Prog Rock

So I finally saw Nektar last night, a bucket list thing for me ever since I missed them back in the mid-70s. (Then punk happened and I didn't really think about them for decades.) I regained my nostalgia for prog, but also missed them in 2013, Roye Albrighton's last time with them here before he passed.

This could go on the "bands who shouldn't exist without..." thread, because without Roye they're essentially a pretty good Nektar tribute act. (His replacement used to be in Fireballet and also toured with Renaissance, so he's kind of a prog Zelig.) Original bassist and drummer remain, along their famed lightshow guy, with a few new recruits. They did do both side-long suites from Remember the Future, which were okay, the notes were there but something crucial seemed lacking. I'm glad I went, but I think I proved to myself I can't go back in time.

This is from two years ago, but it sounded essentially like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eGVpVm4xyk

it's quite a shame that these bands are really at the end of their line now. Can't think of any core prog bands still functional with a majority of long-term members now that Genesis and Crimson have folded up (VDGG still kicking though even w/o Jackson). I'm glad for the opportunities I've had to see many of them and regret missing the chance for many more.

They can take an idea from Daevid Allen who said Gong is an idea/spirit that can go on after he and all the other originals are gone. From what I've seen of their current tour they do a good job of it. Now if they'd only come to California.

I love this idea but idk how many bands could actually pull something like that off. you'd have to be a continuous unit where turnover is a near constant, where one member doesn't massively overshadow everyone else (so The Fall & Magma are out), plus the new music has to be good (so no to Yes). I guess I can see Hawkwind doing it. Tangerine Dream already is I suppose.

xp
And I saw Soft Machine about 3 years ago and it was the same situation of no originals, but then I realized three of the four had been in the band since the mid 70s, so it was an original version of that era. Wish they'd played longer (65 min) but they were doing two sets per night.

I watched a 3 hr Grateful Dead show on youtube with John Mayer and though I went in a skeptic he did an admirable job.

Robert John Godfrey also gave The Enid to the younger members with his blessing to continue as long as they want, because he became too ill to keep playing

David Thomas has been talking for a few years about grooming a successor to be the new singer in Pere Ubu. I see he's performing with them tomorrow, though, so not yet.

Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, and Gong (to an extent) are the three that stick out in my mind. I don't know what will happen with Crimson after Fripp passes on but I would not be surprised to see a re-emergence of the Crimson Projekct with Markus Reuter involved. Stick Men already play several Crimson songs.

I mention Cairo's "Angels And Rage" every now and then on this thread and it must have became one of my favorite songs ever, nothing else on Conflict And Dreams lives up to it at all, though there are great moments scattered throughout it, the vocal harmonies and most dense parts are usually the highlights. Finally bought their other two albums and waiting for them. I believe a death in the band stopped them from going further.
I'm sure some will find them a tad cheesy but "Angels And Rage" is an incredible thing to me and it's been permanently lodged in my head whenever I think of a specific kind of epic science fiction excitement that is difficult to desribe, but it's on a planet rather than outer space.

I'm curious if anyone has experience with the other Magna Carta label bands like Magellan, Shadow Gallery, Enchant, Royal Hunt and Tempest?

circa (i'm guessing) 2007 someone did a really extensive blog on UK PROG. i have a playlist from it that is over 200 songs long. does this ring a bell with anyone?

at my local prog night I heard a few songs by NEKTAR. as luck would have it the store got several of their albums in. this shit is very cool, love hearing prog get all hard and funky like that. its kind of what I wish Uriah Heep sounded like

;_;

woebot did some stuff related to uk prog, I guess... maybe that's it?

I keep seeing a poster for a band round here called TARKUS HENGE

Oh wait I just looked it up, apparently they are called “tankus the henge” and are probably not the prog throwback I’ve been picturing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WAt4EEZO-g

mel collins sure got around didn't he

how does one go about getting mel collins in the band, is there an application, I wish I had money to give to mel collins

Richard Sinclair didn't always gel too well with Camel, but he sings this early song very nicely.

One surprising thing about Rush is how late they got started. By the time they recorded their debut (Fly by Night) as a prog-rock band, Yes and Gentle Giant were years old, King Crimson had already retired, and Pink Floyd was about to crest as a prog band.

What are some other major prog bands that started as late as Rush did, in 1975?

at my bar's monthly Prog Nite they actually play that live Camel stuff a lot and someone's always sure to mention "you know that's Mel Collins??"

xpost Kansas' debut is from 1974. Angel started in 1975, but were more hard rock than prog. Clearlight and Crack the Sky are 1975 too, but maybe not major enough. Journey debuted in '75 and were prog at that point.

What are some other major prog bands that started as late as Rush did, in 1975?

Not counting supergroups who had made their names earlier in the decade, and possibly with quibbles about both "major" and "prog", the Alan Parsons Project?

It's also notable that I'm sure no-one considered Rush to be prog until at least 1976, maybe 1977, so in that respect they were even later to the game.

Rush's debut is from 1974 btw

Marillion started in 1979!

But that was the next wave, it was self-consciously retro at that point.

Prog took off later in the US, it took a few years for the bands influenced by Yes/Tull etc to get to the point of releasing anything. Hence the mid-70s intake. (not counting Zappa here, he was his own thing)

Hadn't listened to Camel before, the intro to that really reminded me of Rennaissance's Can You Understand (does everyone always say that?)

The Enid formed in 73 but debut album was 76. I imagine a bunch of Rock In Opposition bands were late starters too.

Are Clearlight, Angel, Crack The Sky and Alan Parsons Project a good time?

Camel are really good. I avoided them for years because I was under the impression they were dodgy symphonic slop in some sub-yes way, but they are not.

I avoided them for years because I was under the impression they were dodgy symphonic slop in some sub-yes way

exact same for me! maybe i'll give 'em a whirl

mel collins _did_ get around, he was a big session player starting in about the '80s... he's on the first milli vanilli album...

re: us prog - i just think that the us psych movement went a different direction from the uk psych movement... in the uk a lot of the psych bands went prog, whereas in the us they went, i don't know. what the fuck would you even call jefferson starship? cocaine, maybe. there isn't a lot of cocaine prog.

i always thought of camel as more sub-Pink Floyd than sub-Yes. i'm sure that's less than entirely fair to andy latimer but w/e.

Crack the Sky were an odd bird. They had a bit of Canterbury whimsy and Rush-like rocking, but there was even some proto-AOR New Wave to them. In fact the lead singer went on to make this gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGZImOl-6bY

Totally forgot about Crack the Sky.

Starcastle's first album is 76

Not really major prog bands though.

this has been posted elsewhere -- handy resource and tidy history for US/canadian 70s prog

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/ashratom/usa-midwest-ontario-progressive-rock-1970s_early-80s/

yeah there were a bunch of American prog acts in the mid 70s, though I wonder how many of them were just repurposed bands that weren't going anywhere. Starcastle for instance actually date back to 1969.

Styx date back to 1961! Are Styx prog? Kind of I suppose. "Pomp Rock" is probably a better descriptor of those type of bands - a mix of prog, hard rock and soft rock. Magnum would be the UK equivalent.

Little bit of Yes cosplay here from 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb4xBRvRxXU

^featuring Tubeway Army's drummer Cedric Sharpley

lmao @ the nearly perfect Jon Anderson impression coming outta THAT guy

Let's have another one from 1975

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PKrw4DAPHo

You can almost imagine fledgling punks watching these thinking "Something's got to give"

I can be sympathetic to punk if it is about DIY spirit. But the 1970s punks who expressly looked down on possessing technical chops or interest in classical music were just being anti-intellectual, and from five decades’ remove seem just as snobbish as the sort that they thought they were rebelling against.

Trace!!! I heard their first album once and was really impressed, dunno why I didn't listen again. I've heard the second is really good too, but nobody really reps much for guys like this. At its best, it kind of is just a really good ELP impression. I mean just watch keyboard player, dude looks like he wants to start humping the shit out of the Hammond but he settles for...uh just moving it around a bit. Still love it!

Anyone remember Triumvirat? I see their albums come in constantly at the local shop. Another band that maybe started a few years too late but they really do scratch that ELP itch. Double Dimple and Spartacus are both top notch in my book.

oh...and Refugee...this I think is 1974

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtfKSUyYaEU

band is the two other guys from The Nice but with Patrick Moraz filling in for Emerson. he is surprisingly good at it, in fact I think their lone album is better than anything The Nice did. unfortunately Yes poached him for Relayer before they could make a second album. amusingly if you listen to 1975 live Yes recordings you can hear Moraz play a bunch of bits from this album during his solo spots

but yeah I think it really speaks to how popular this stuff really was that you had all these bands springing up in 1974 and 1975 trying to imitate what Yes and ELP were doing. they were all kinda successful too, I think 1977 was when this stuff really hit the wall. Going For the One was a #1 in the UK and I think ELP's Works Vol. 1 sold pretty well but those were the last ones to do so.

Speaking of Patrick Moraz, I have been reading about this group he was in whilst in Brazil called Vimana with some people who later went on to be in some other Brazilian groups I am somewhat familiar with but I have yet to listen to a single note of Vimana.

they're pretty good! but way more of a disco/funk thing, nothing proggy about it at all. amusingly Moraz's first solo album has a big Brazilian funk influence, though apparently he wasn't in Vimana until 1977. something's probably not right about that timeline. I give that Moraz album props though, it's definitely the Yes solo album that sounds least like you expect it to.

I had the first Trace, Refugee, and the Double Dimple albums sold 'em all off in my big prog purge when punk happened. I relistened to both not too long ago but found that ELP-style bombast doesn't hold up well for me.

One more: Greenslade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3K84zaHHFI