Cheers Martin & Pete. Great show today. Here are a few more ‘modern’ type of ‘Almost Prog’ bands: Muse- Origin of Symmetry, Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations, The Resistance Radiohead- OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac Primus-Frizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese Faith No More- Angel Dust Jeff Buckley- Grace Collective Soul- Dosage
@@jasonjames6383 Speaking of Collective Soul just downloaded their latest album Vibrating - very good! I liked 8 of the tracks. I like Dosage a lot too but never thought of it as particularly prog
@@jasonjames6383 Some other good albums of theirs: Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid, Home, Live, See What You Started By Continuing, s/t, Blender, Youth, Afterwords & their s/t "Rabbit" album from '09. Or you could start with 7even Year Itch - Greatest Hit (it's their earlier "Greatest Hits"). Really IMO one of the better ALT bands around, they draw on many different influences. Some call them post-grunge but I don't like that label, some of their tunes can approach a grungy sound at times but they're to catchy/melodic for Grunge (at least to me)
Pete: we will name 5 almost prog artists each. Martin: here are about 5000 bands that i think are almost prog. 😂 Great show. Really interesting discussion. I definitely fall in line with how Pete sees these bands.
@@michaelbeaule1966 When it comes down to it Martin has the same tastes in music as most Record Store owners. He seems more interested in championing Post Punk, and eclectic Alternative bands than straight forward Prog Rock and Metal subgenres. Smart Guy Punk Rock always dominates his selections no matter what the actual subject at hand is. Martin can't even discuss early Judas Priest without mentioning David Bowie types of artists in at every chance he gets
Uriah Heep "Salisbury"- the song definitely pushes all of the Prog buttons : Length, orchestrations, brass, excellent wah-wah solo, excellent lyrics...!
The Flaming Lips have some albums that may surelly appeal to 'classic' prog fans - 'The Soft Bulletin', 'and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots', to name just two.
Thanks for mentioning them. Definitely a top "almost prog" band. Also, Check out "Of Montreal" and their album "Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer." Off the charts strange.
Saga would be a great example! Heep definitely. Would early Elton John be considered? Golden Earring and Focus have prog elements as well. Awesome show guys
LOVED this episode! Alan Parsons and Moody Blues are 2 of my and are considered almost prog. I also love the Kath Era of Chicago and all of those are progy, especially 1, 2, 3, 7 and the rest have elements of it
Great episode guys! Some more I think could be on Martin's and Peter's sides: Peter's vibe: Crack the Sky Procol Harum Automatic Man Queen It Bites (80s version) Saga Journey (early, first 3 lps) Martin's vibe: Be Bop Deluxe Television Talk Talk This Heat The Stranglers Peru Ubu The Tubes
@@malco49 I love this band. I've got 21 of their albums. They do a great cover of Genesis' "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" - maybe a bit too electronic for some...
@@wolf1977 Wow. Would you happen to have the "Live Sky - live on WBAB" on Lifesong records? I just pulled this out to listen to the 13 minute 'Ice' and my disc is warped. I think it is LONG out of print. Very sad.
@@carlsalazar4490 Although I agree with the 'rumor' that Andy is probably an @$$, there's no denying the genius and creativity of the music. What I don't get is, many other fans I've seen on the web don't like "Nonsuch"! WHAT?? How in the world can you not like that one??? I love virtually their entire catalog, but I never grow tired of "Nonsuch". Heck, I never grow tired of any of them, excepting maybe 'Drums and Wires'; probably because I bought that one and "English Settlement" the same day, and those were my first, so I wore them out. But once I heard "Black Sea" and "Big Express", I was all in, and have remained so... although Andy's recent EP's trickling's leave a bit to be desired. I'm no longer interested in demo's. A new studio album is a necessity, but without at least Colin by his side, I don't think it'll ever happen. There are a lot of lost gems in Andy's "Fuzzy Warbles" collections, but all these rehashed compilations need to make way for something new and special. I know Andy COULD do it on his own, but it doesn't feel like he's really trying, or even cares that much, for that matter. I don't know.
My take on those Supertramp albums (Crime of the Century, Even the Quietest moments, and Crisis... What Crisis?) is that you could consider them either prog rock for the general public (maybe a bit less dense than other albums from the time) or a pop rock well put together. I wouldn´t disagree with both of these postures. However, I do like Martin´s take on it as well.
Rush - Moving Pictures was as Prog as their early work, but with some Pop sensibility. Their last album with any Hard Rock elements for many years. I listened to Caress of Steel back to back with some 1980s Traditional Metal bands, it didn't seem that different other than the long Prog tracks. I think Rush was one of the Heaviest and ahead of their time 1970s bands
Great episode. Some others for consideration: crack the sky, queen, be bop deluxe, mike oldfield, muse, Grateful Dead Terrapin Station suite, early split enz
D Tolmie . Oh boy ! Here we go . Camels' 'Nude' from '81 , and 'Stationary Traveller' from '84 , The Enid ' , and of course , the 'Ozrics' , for a start !
@@simonjones8111 Amon Duuul 11 , PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi ) , Spirit , John Mclaughlin , Nice , Focus , Alan Parson Project (just!) ,Colosseum 1+2 , Can , Man , there's hundreds I could could remember given the time (no cheating !!)
Another phenomenal show Pete and Martin - thinking about several genres - new age, jazz, new wave that crossed into complicated music and venture into prog- 1. Roxy Music 2. The Cure ( all of Bloodflowers and Disintegration albums are lush, synth, guitar , long epics 3. Undisputed Truth - psychedelic soul with long guitars and spacey sounds 4. The Church 5. The Decemberists
I see Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody as the ultimate example of Prog meeting the mainstream. Such an ambitious multi-sectioned song that stunned everyone with how big a hit it became. You could say similar about Stairway to Heaven too. I know these aren't 'prog' songs and aren't typical of prog, but they're great gateway songs that showed the mainstream pop and rock world that rock could have ambition and scope.
Those two songs are quite prog at least being realistic about the genre, not stretchin it to the velvet underground and xtc ( which some people ridiculosly do)
Todd Rundgren for sure treads that Prog/Pop line. I agree the early Utopia being the most proggish. He DOES have some really intricate solo albums as well. Adrian Belew solo stuff as well. I always dreamed of a Belew /Rundgren collaboration. Those two DID perform together for a tribute of another sometime "almost-progger" - David Bowie
i would definitely put Max Webster in this, they have many prog elements in their music, and i would also say those early Rainbow albums and new band Vintage Caravan
No mention of them, one of my all time fave bands. Very versatile, almost to the extent of being a split-personality band. I guess that's what can happen when you bring together a jazz drummer, an almost-Jimi Hendrix band member, with a couple of guys who later formed the excellent band Jo Jo Gunne. Also on the short list of bands with the best ever first 4 albums. I would call them psychedelic rock though, not prog
Hey guys, good episode - can I suggest a follow up show subject: prog songs on non prog albums/artists. Songs like Alice Cooper's "Unfinished Sweet"; The Sweet's "Love Is Like Oxygen" (long version); Teaze's "Touch The Wind"; Doobie Brothers' "I Cheat The Hangman". I sure there's a ton of others. Great show!
I'd put up Kraftwerk's Autobahn to Die Mensch-Maschine period as almost prog. At the time, there just wasn't a whole lot of music sounding like that, and those albums have a lot of longer, moodier tracks and were usually set around a concept and even with returning musical themes and melodies throughout the album. And while Die Mensch-Maschine already had some "dance" tracks like "Die Roboter" or "Das Model", I'd say others like "Metropolis" and "Space Lab" are quite proggy.
@@corleth84 I agree. Most of them are really close to prog to me, to the extent that I'd just call some of them prog. I was trying to reach a bit further, with a band that I haven't seen mentioned as even adjacent to prog (except maybe the frist 3 albums) because they diverged later on and helped creating other genres that were as far away from prog as you can get. I think that run of albums I mentioned still mantain plenty of proggy elements, though you can feel them getting less prevalent as the years went by.
Kanter maybe, Blows Against The Empire has a bunch of longer tracks & "Starship" is a kind of mini-suite. Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra (aka The Empire Blows Back) is a pretty cool concept album (meant to accompany a novel he wrote) but not all concept albums are prog. I wouldn't call Dragonfly prog though, the title track may be the closest it gets
Strawbs - they did those six albums from Antiques to Ghosts, Rick Wakeman on two albums, lots of keyboards, bags of atmosphere, but never quite hard core prog like Genesis, Yes, ELP, etc but I always felt their song writing quality was exceptional and they had this otherworldly quality.
Great discussion . I"m glad that you guys mentioned 10CC , Max Webster , XTC , and early Chicago , because I considered them in this category . I would also mention bands like : Procol Harum Moody Blues Be Bop Deluxe Some songs from the Cars , even. (.for example : Moving in Stereo and All Mixed Up ) Parts of the catalogs of : Roxy Music The Doors Steve Winwood Funkadelic Thanks !!!
I wouldn't call Tears for Fears "Prog" either...but, when The Hurting first came out, it definitely resonated big time with many Prog-heads during those dark days for Prog. It's a concept album (about child abuse) it's wildly inventive, and it has Prog legend Mel Collins on the sax (and some excellent sax it is!)
@@chadcassidy1580 The Working Hour is prog a f., or art rock. Even The Seeds of Love play with segues and interesting sound and production. It's that type of band that prog heads love, like Steve Wilson being a prominent fan.
Great episode. You really nailed this one ! I would include some post-rock stuff and Scott Walker to the list. Artists also worth mentioning: Talk Talk, Mogwai, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell and Björk
Pete's Picks: ELO, Supertramp, Ambrosia, Alan Parsons, Styx Martin's picks: later King Crimson (with Belew), later Genesis (post Duke), Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Magazine.
Can’t imagine having a collection of Prog albums without Tears for Fears in it. They are at huge fault for how I got into Prog in the first place. And I can clearly hear the Prog influences and love the complex time signatures, creativity, and the fact they make flawless albums continually. One of my favorite bands of all time.
I only caught a part of this. Heard a bit of discussion where Martin would only write a prog book if there was a poll. I like this idea! For a guy like me who only has his toes in the prog pool it would be a great reference guide.
I think IT BITES are a great British 80s prog band, especially their Once Around The World lp. I don't think I have heard Pete or Martin talk about them and wondered what they thought about them? Thanks for all the videos, I agree with Martin about Kate Bush being almost prog
Really interesting discussion. How about Manfred Manns Earthband? Their first albums up to Solar Fire are pure prog and even later they have elements of it. I also thinking about the first Journey albums, and The Strawbs, they have prog elements in the music (so many great songs!) during their whole career, still active. Their Ferrymans Curse album some years ago (I think 2017) was in some magazine voted as the best prog album of the year. What about Blue Oyster Cult, they have also prog elements in their music.
Thanks. Interesting choices, guys! :) I'm old enough to have had a TRS-80, a C64-C, etc. I grew up watching the birth & growth of the internet. Honestly, I don't know how I ever lived without it. Between my phone & my laptops, I'm constantly looking up references. Who's that actor? What year was this album? But it blows my mind to think what an incredible tool it is for learning. I can watch a video about science, math, technology, or whatever, and hear a certain term used. I can stop that video, open another tab, look up the reference, make sure I understand it, and go on with the video. I can look up how to check something about my car, or some DIY project, or chess, or music. or almost literally anything. It's better than school; I learn at my own pace about anything I want or need. What an unfathomable waste that it's used to watch cat videos, or make snarky comments on Twitter! Good God - if I'd had this when I was 10, I'd have solved quantum gravity and cured cancer by now. Beats asking your Dad! Anyway, thanks again, fellas. tavi.
Pete ended the video with the right question : what is the definition of "prog" ? Ask ten fans, you will have 10 different answers. And is all that really important ? No sure ... forget the labels and love the music you want. But nevertheless, the discussion remains interesting .. as always with you, guys.
Cannibal Corpse , Immolation, Suffocation, and Morbid Angel could be considered Almost Prog. It's Death Metal, but not considered Tech Death, but there were definitely some intricate arrangements
10cc are a great mention. They were a band that when I was at school (more years ago than I care to remember) appealed to the singles buying top 40 fans along with the album buying hard rockers and proggers. I think there's any number of post punk bands that qualify for this feature, nearly all of whom were name checked if not featured. Maybe even someone like The Stranglers qualify. They fit punk chronologically but musically, for me, punk is not a great fit for the band. A very interesting feature again guys, thanks a lot.
Surprised you guys completely forgot about Al Stewart. Started folk, but by "Past, Present and Future" through "24 Carrots" he fits in perfectly with almost-prog. Also, the Residents occasionally went into prog, particularly on "Eskimo" and "Not Available". By the way, nice to hear you guys echo what I and the other Eric basically said over the few years of going over ELO song-by-song. I think Jeff Lynne at first really wanted to get on the prog bandwagon, but his skills really were in expanding on the last few Beatles albums. Also, ELO's disco songs were some of the best of that genre.
Yes, the Residents were pretty much avant-garde, along with folks like Pere Ubu. I saw the Residents live once (along with Wall of Voodoo) and they were as bizarre as you might imagine! They were pioneers in interactive computer games also. I am a fan of Al Stewart as well; an adventurous pop-rock musician!
to sum it up: EVERYTHING IS PROG 🙂 great episode btw... 5 names from the top of my head that were not mentioned: Saga, Fish, Helloween, Angra, Joe Satriani
So glad you included Ambrosia in your list-such an underrated and mis represented band. They were definitely at their most experimental on the first albums but the next three were very classy and sophisticated as well. I would definitely include Steely Dan on my list because their arrangements especially on Royal Scam and Aja are so complex harmonically and instrumentally and beautifully produced it is very close to Prog. Totally agree with your inclusion of Styx- they cleverly incorporated Prog rock stylings into fairly straightforward song structures to create I suppose a style which could be described as Prog Rock for people who don't like Prog Rog. Saga are another band who tried do do similar.
As someone who isn't a pure prog guy I find that it isn't the easiest genre to explore. You like some, dislike some and don't understand other things. I think bands and artists like this is a good gateway to prog from someone who enjoy metal, pop, hardrock or whatever you mainly listen to. If you like Supertramp, Kate Bush and Styx. You probably find it much easier to understand Yes and Genesis then for someone who only listened to Kiss, Foo Fighters and Bon Jovi.
"You like some, dislike some and don't understand other things" - I actually find that to be the case with all styles of music, not just prog. But I get what you're saying, "almost-prog" as a gateway to get to "real" prog makes sense. After all it's almost-prog because the music's already proggy mixed with non-prog elements that you're probably already listening to (even as a non-progger)
David Pack appears on the latest Alan Parsons release. Love the mention of City Boy! Surprising that The Fixx didn't rate a mention. Love those "art rock" bands with interesting instrumental interplay.
For me, 10cc, Supertramp, Asia, Ambrosia, Styx, ELO, The Alan Parsons Project, Queen, Procol Harum, Angel (early), It Bites, Saga, Kate Bush, Max Webster, solo albums from David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. Over at Prog Archives, these artists are listed either as "Crossover Prog" or "Prog-Related". I'm surprised to see Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant's solo material on the site both considered Crossover Prog.
Fates Warning was considered the most obvious predecessors of Prog Metal. I don't think that most of the John Arch era to be as complicated as the Perfect Symmetry album, even though they were a lot Heavier and I prefer their first 4 albums. There's a lot of changes on their early albums, but most of the riffs themselves were pretty simple. On Perfect Symmetry the riffs themselves were complicated, and the time changes were unbelievable
I always referred to 'almost prog' as fringe prog. I consider the '70's era of Traffic and Family as fringe prog. The 1970-1973 albums by The Beach Boys have elements of fringe prog, IMO.
One of my all time fave 70's bands! Many call them art rock, I have them under "Rock". Their later 70's stuff (my least fave period) is punkish new wave
I like how Martin looks for King Crimson's red album when he refers to the red cover of the album Discipline, but there's actually a King Crimson album called Red, which incidentally doesn't have a red cover.
ABBA (perhaps the ultimate 'this is pop, but there's a lot going on under the surface if you dig deeply') Joanna Newsom (particularly Ys. 10 minute songs with intricate arrangements, a high-pitched voice and cryptic lyrics... Is it even 'adjacent' or is this just straight prog?) Fairport Convention - particularly Matty Groves and Tam Lin off Liege and Lief. Folk classics extended to 10 minute jams with a young virtuosic Richard Thompson on guitar. This one's a bit more of a stretch. Roy Harper - Stormcock (if you saw the tracklist and song length you'd swear this was a straight prog record)
All of the City Boy albums, Welsh band Man, Home (members included Mick Cook, Mick Stubbs, Cliff Williams, Laurie Wisefield, Clive Johns from Man, Jimmy Anderson), Midge Ure-era Ultravox produced by Connie Plank, the Zaragon album by John Miles produced by Rupert Holmes, early folk-inspired Wishbone Ash with Martin Turner, Golden Earring around the Moontan and Live 1977 era, Fairport Convention, Kevin Ayers, Roy Harper, Mick Abraham and Blodwyn Pig, Ten Years After, Santana, Heavy Jelly (previously Skip Bifferty), Stranglers with Down in the Sewer and the Black & White album, Television's Marquee Moon album, The Book of Taliesyn by Deep Purple with Rod Evans, especially The Shield track. I would say Cream were an early progressive band with the long expansive tracks, and that Frank Zappa's Hot Rats was an early progressive album. Todd's early Utopia albums were full-on progressive, as were Roger Powell's albums. Supertramp were one of the bands who were full-on progressive, became commercial and then returned to progressive when Rick Davies led them on his own.
You could look at Kraut Rock as being German Prog and from those bands we got many electronic bands influenced by them like Depeche Mode , Cabaret Voltaire and many other who all have experimented with different sounds and recording techniques and it was the influence behind Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy"
"You could look at Kraut Rock as being German Prog" - I actually do, whenever I've seen references to Krautrock it's always in connection with prog. I see it as a sub-genre
I would say that the female Japanese band, Band Maid can definitely be almost prog at times. Especially with the way that they structure their songs. They still have great pop hooks. Then there is the almost fusion artists/ bands. Gino Vannelli comes to mind.
Totally agree on Band-Maid. They have so much variety in what they do that they remain interesting. Even their acoustic stuff is really good. I think they are going to become very popular in the US when they tour in the Fall.
@@tedwatson1743 wow. I thought that I was the only SOT viewer that was a Band Maid fan. Actually the opening slot on the Down Load Festival Japan in a few days is not too shabby. Dream Theater is the headliner over many other bands. Band Maid will be the only Japanese band for the entire festival.
@@scottmcgregor4829 I told Pete about Band-Maid. He listened to a bit but it's not his cup of tea. He grew up with hard rock dudes like Kiss and Maiden, so I understand his perspective. I grew up in the 60's so it's a totally different vibe. Ladies in maid costumes probably doesn't help,lol. To me they are the most refreshing thing I have heard in a LONG time.
@@tedwatson1743 he is definitely set in his ways and has his biases. I'm 7 years older than Pete I grew up listening to music from the late 60s.. I was in my early teens when the early 70s hard rock and proto metal first came out. I am at the age where I am getting tired of the music that I have been hearing for the last 50 years. I want to hear music that that is not just a retread from decades ago .
Seeing this show I keep thinking that it'd be cool to have a series of panels of something like "What is...?" I mean, "What is Gothic?" or "What is Thrash?", "What is Stoner?" the seminal bands, the "almost" bands. "What is Classic?" is it because of the time period or the style? yeah, that'd be cool. Thanks for all the shows! 🍺🤘
I knew I could count on you Pete to bring up Chicago as they certainly had prog moments in the Terry Kath years. Some might already consider them prog, some might not. For me they were definitely almost prog.
Chicago Transit Authority (1969 ) has 'Does anybody Really Know What time it is ?' for just 1 example , then Chicago (11) has 'Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon' and '25 or 6 to 4' . (one of my all time favourites ) They're just for starters . Pete 8-)
SWEET/Level Headed GOLDEN EARRING/Moontan KATE BUSH/The Dreaming STYX/The Grand Illusion QUEENSRYCHE/Operation Mindcrime 10CC/The Original Soundtrack CITY BOY/Dinner At The Ritz ANGEL/Angel KAYAK/Merlin-Bard of the Unseen SWEET/Cut Above The Rest QUEEN/A Night At The Opera DEMON/The Plague
I really feel like Greta Van Fleet's newest album has some solid Prog tendencies. I feel like they are headed away from a Led Z direction and more toward Rush
-Radiohead - Talk Talk - Soundgarden - Bauhaus - Mr Bungle and Fantomas - Bjork - Kate Bush - The Dillinger Escape Plan - Nine Inch Nails - Cocteau Twins
Pete, you raised an interesting question of what the potential trajectory of post-Abacab Genesis would have sounded like had Phil Collins never tasted success from his 2 first solo albums.
Great show guys, especially mentioning Ambrosia, Utopia, and Chicago! I am a bit surprised more recent bands were not included. The big one for me is Grizzly Bear for the top "almost prog" band for recent bands. Listen to Yellow House and Painted Ruins. Very weird arrangements and experiments with song structures. Both albums are amazing.
I felt the Alan Parsons Project was a prog-ish concept with a pop delivery. That had much to do with the original APP being Pilot, the Scottish band who first hit big with (Wo, Wo, Wo It's) 'Magic' in the early 70s. Bassist (and occasional APP vocalist) David Paton and guitarist Ian Bairnson stayed on over the years (Paton would leave to do various other things including Elton John, Fish (from Marillion), Camel (with Pilot drummer Stu Tosh on the 'Live On the Road - 1982' album)). They were also both on Kate Bush's early albums including the hit 'Wuthering Heights'. Paton also collaborated with Yes's Rick Wakeman, most notably adding finger-style nylon-string guitar. Both Bairnson and Paton (originally a pre-hits Bay City Roller) could skillfully straddle the divide.
Hi, Pete! Make a video "top 10 album covers bands", where you tell us band, that have your favourite album covers. Your favourite band must have the bigger number of killer album covers or, for example, 3 or 4, that you love more than 5 or 6 of your second favourite!!!
Hi. Suggestion for a future series...."There's a great album in there somewhere"....what would the track list be? You often hear it mentioned with double albums (a great single disc in there somewhere ie The White Album etc) but with the advent of CD a lot of albums in 1990s+ were cursed with 70+ run times and weren't even classed as doubles! Which tracks would be included if it was honed down to a super tight 40 minute vinyl-style format? I often hear an album that is spoiled by one awful song (Cyberiam's Connected...can you guess the track that should never have been included?). Thoughts from SoE????
Why do you say "cursed"? To me more music is always better, if there are "too many" songs on a given album for you then you can just not listen to the extras (very easy to do with cd's). Also playlists come in very handy for that, assuming that you're creating your own "dream" disc by ripping the original tracks & putting together a CD-R. I can understand the argument that some individual tracks are too long but never got the argument that some albums are too long (unless they're exceeding the maximum cd space - approx 80 mins - by violating the Redbook standard - some don't play on some players). Now when we're talking vinyl it's a whole different story because that's a physical medium where spacing the physical grooves closer together introduces compression & loss in dynamic range. That's why it's generally a bad idea to cram additional music onto vinyl records & they're typically limited to no more than 22 minutes per side
I second that. Great idea!! There are quite a lot of albums that would be way better if narrowed to just 40 minute, but end up losing their momentum, pace, flow, whatever else you might think.
Talk Talk Especially the albums Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock. Very densely arranged and oddly structured songs from a band that started out as a synth pop band in the early 80's. A case could also be made for Nine Inch Nails on The Fragile and somewhat The Downward Spiral. And I too find the lack of a mention of Queen in this video strange, as they were quite proggy at times in the 70's.
Fred Frith-Gravity. The Mermen-The Amazing California Health and Happiness Roadshow. Snakefinger-Greener Postures. The Residents-Mush Room. The Billy Nayer Show-Goodnight Straplight Sarentino. And a big chunk of Frank Zappa's catalog, er, I mean all of it.
Cheers Martin & Pete. Great show today. Here are a few more ‘modern’ type of ‘Almost Prog’ bands:
Muse- Origin of Symmetry, Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations, The Resistance
Radiohead- OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesiac
Primus-Frizzle Fry, Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Faith No More- Angel Dust
Jeff Buckley- Grace
Collective Soul- Dosage
Not familiar with the Collective Soul album but most of those picks are spot on.
@@jasonjames6383 Speaking of Collective Soul just downloaded their latest album Vibrating - very good! I liked 8 of the tracks. I like Dosage a lot too but never thought of it as particularly prog
@@wolf1977 Such a good band. I kind of lost track of them, good to know they`re still putting out albums. Gotta check it out.
@@wolf1977 I'll have to give them more of a listen, don't really know their music other than the 1-2 songs I heard on the radio years ago.
@@jasonjames6383 Some other good albums of theirs: Hints, Allegations & Things Left Unsaid, Home, Live, See What You Started By Continuing, s/t, Blender, Youth, Afterwords & their s/t "Rabbit" album from '09. Or you could start with 7even Year Itch - Greatest Hit (it's their earlier "Greatest Hits"). Really IMO one of the better ALT bands around, they draw on many different influences. Some call them post-grunge but I don't like that label, some of their tunes can approach a grungy sound at times but they're to catchy/melodic for Grunge (at least to me)
First 3 Journey albums. Debut is my favorite out of the 3. Schon's playing is blissful.
It's prog to me, don't even have to think about that one
@@wolf1977 Prog to me too, but they're rarely mentioned if at all on prog related channels or episodes. I like to sing their praises whenever I can:)
couldn't agree more
I also like to include their 7th album which is so often overlooked, "Dream, After Dream." I'm not even sure how many are aware this one exists.
@@luchenzo The soundtrack. Yes, absolutely, oversight on my part. Great call!!
Pete: we will name 5 almost prog artists each.
Martin: here are about 5000 bands that i think are almost prog. 😂
Great show. Really interesting discussion. I definitely fall in line with how Pete sees these bands.
Yup, typical Martin. Fuzzy on the assignment. :)
@@michaelbeaule1966 When it comes down to it Martin has the same tastes in music as most Record Store owners. He seems more interested in championing Post Punk, and eclectic Alternative bands than straight forward Prog Rock and Metal subgenres. Smart Guy Punk Rock always dominates his selections no matter what the actual subject at hand is. Martin can't even discuss early Judas Priest without mentioning David Bowie types of artists in at every chance he gets
Uriah Heep "Salisbury"- the song definitely pushes all of the Prog buttons :
Length, orchestrations, brass, excellent wah-wah solo, excellent lyrics...!
The Flaming Lips have some albums that may surelly appeal to 'classic' prog fans - 'The Soft Bulletin', 'and Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots', to name just two.
Thanks for mentioning them. Definitely a top "almost prog" band. Also, Check out "Of Montreal" and their album "Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer." Off the charts strange.
Saga would be a great example! Heep definitely. Would early Elton John be considered? Golden Earring and Focus have prog elements as well. Awesome show guys
LOVED this episode! Alan Parsons and Moody Blues are 2 of my and are considered almost prog. I also love the Kath Era of Chicago and all of those are progy, especially 1, 2, 3, 7 and the rest have elements of it
The Godley & Creme era of 10cc were amazing!!
Great to include overlooked Jane Siberry by Martin, I always loved the album version of Mimi on the Beach.
Great episode guys! Some more I think could be on Martin's and Peter's sides:
Peter's vibe:
Crack the Sky
Procol Harum
Automatic Man
Queen
It Bites (80s version)
Saga
Journey (early, first 3 lps)
Martin's vibe:
Be Bop Deluxe
Television
Talk Talk
This Heat
The Stranglers
Peru Ubu
The Tubes
They are so different.
i keep hoping pete will check out crack the sky. they are kinda well know in my neck of the woods ( baltimore md)
@@malco49 I love this band. I've got 21 of their albums. They do a great cover of Genesis' "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" - maybe a bit too electronic for some...
@@wolf1977 Wow. Would you happen to have the "Live Sky - live on WBAB" on Lifesong records? I just pulled this out to listen to the 13 minute 'Ice' and my disc is warped. I think it is LONG out of print. Very sad.
XTC is my favorite band of the 80's, hands down!!
Ditto.......and remains a favorite beyond the 80s......
@@toddhill7483 They anchor my "Smart Pop" playlist
I only had one friend that I could convince to listen to XTC. He went out and started a band playing XTC music.
@@carlsalazar4490 Although I agree with the 'rumor' that Andy is probably an @$$, there's no denying the genius and creativity of the music. What I don't get is, many other fans I've seen on the web don't like "Nonsuch"! WHAT?? How in the world can you not like that one??? I love virtually their entire catalog, but I never grow tired of "Nonsuch". Heck, I never grow tired of any of them, excepting maybe 'Drums and Wires'; probably because I bought that one and "English Settlement" the same day, and those were my first, so I wore them out. But once I heard "Black Sea" and "Big Express", I was all in, and have remained so... although Andy's recent EP's trickling's leave a bit to be desired. I'm no longer interested in demo's. A new studio album is a necessity, but without at least Colin by his side, I don't think it'll ever happen. There are a lot of lost gems in Andy's "Fuzzy Warbles" collections, but all these rehashed compilations need to make way for something new and special. I know Andy COULD do it on his own, but it doesn't feel like he's really trying, or even cares that much, for that matter. I don't know.
It's my favorite drug of the 80s.
What a great conversation!
Congratulations gentlemen.
Excellent episode. A lot of bands featured that I'm a big fan of.
Great show as always guys TY
Fun episode, thank you! I would also throw Talk Talk and Fields of the Nephilim into the mix.
My take on those Supertramp albums (Crime of the Century, Even the Quietest moments, and Crisis... What Crisis?) is that you could consider them either prog rock for the general public (maybe a bit less dense than other albums from the time) or a pop rock well put together. I wouldn´t disagree with both of these postures. However, I do like Martin´s take on it as well.
Rush - Moving Pictures was as Prog as their early work, but with some Pop sensibility. Their last album with any Hard Rock elements for many years. I listened to Caress of Steel back to back with some 1980s Traditional Metal bands, it didn't seem that different other than the long Prog tracks. I think Rush was one of the Heaviest and ahead of their time 1970s bands
Great episode. Some others for consideration: crack the sky, queen, be bop deluxe, mike oldfield, muse, Grateful Dead Terrapin Station suite, early split enz
I like the question Pete put out there "What was prog in the '80s?" A good topic for future (?).
Better still, what was it from 65-76?
D Tolmie . Oh boy ! Here we go . Camels' 'Nude' from '81 , and 'Stationary Traveller' from '84 , The Enid ' , and of course , the 'Ozrics' , for a start !
@@simonjones8111 Amon Duuul 11 , PFM (Premiata Forneria Marconi ) , Spirit , John Mclaughlin , Nice , Focus , Alan Parson Project (just!) ,Colosseum 1+2 , Can , Man , there's hundreds I could could remember given the time (no cheating !!)
Neo prog was the most accessible prog out there. Twelfth Night, Pallas, obviously Marillion, Pendragon,...great stuff.
Thrilled that Crime of the Century is getting some love!
Totally agree. 5 star album. And it stands the test of time.
A masterpiece from start to finish
A Flock Of Seagulls...pop,new wave with proginfluences. Fantastic band in my humble opinion
Another phenomenal show Pete and Martin - thinking about several genres - new age, jazz, new wave that crossed into complicated music and venture into prog-
1. Roxy Music
2. The Cure ( all of Bloodflowers and Disintegration albums are lush, synth, guitar , long epics
3. Undisputed Truth - psychedelic soul with long guitars and spacey sounds
4. The Church
5. The Decemberists
Great show, very throught provoking. I would possibly add Wishbone Ash, Procol Harum and maybe Queen.
Certainly early 70's Queen
I see Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody as the ultimate example of Prog meeting the mainstream. Such an ambitious multi-sectioned song that stunned everyone with how big a hit it became. You could say similar about Stairway to Heaven too. I know these aren't 'prog' songs and aren't typical of prog, but they're great gateway songs that showed the mainstream pop and rock world that rock could have ambition and scope.
Led Zeppelin: in the light
Queen was definitely a prog band through the 70s
Well said, I always thought LZ was at least Prog adjacent/almost Prog
Those two songs are quite prog at least being realistic about the genre, not stretchin it to the velvet underground and xtc ( which some people ridiculosly do)
So tired of that song, never liked it.
Todd Rundgren for sure treads that Prog/Pop line. I agree the early Utopia being the most proggish. He DOES have some really intricate solo albums as well.
Adrian Belew solo stuff as well. I always dreamed of a Belew /Rundgren collaboration.
Those two DID perform together for a tribute of another sometime "almost-progger" - David Bowie
Dead Can Dance - epic , atavistic prog . " Into The Labyrinth "
Dead Can Dance, Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil are definitely 'almost Prog' for me. They're certainly very progressive bands musically IMHO.
i would definitely put Max Webster in this, they have many prog elements in their music, and i would also say those early Rainbow albums and new band Vintage Caravan
I came in late. Did anyone mention Spirit? This band is almost unable to be categorized.
No mention of them, one of my all time fave bands. Very versatile, almost to the extent of being a split-personality band. I guess that's what can happen when you bring together a jazz drummer, an almost-Jimi Hendrix band member, with a couple of guys who later formed the excellent band Jo Jo Gunne. Also on the short list of bands with the best ever first 4 albums. I would call them psychedelic rock though, not prog
Hey guys, good episode - can I suggest a follow up show subject: prog songs on non prog albums/artists. Songs like Alice Cooper's "Unfinished Sweet"; The Sweet's "Love Is Like Oxygen" (long version); Teaze's "Touch The Wind"; Doobie Brothers' "I Cheat The Hangman". I sure there's a ton of others. Great show!
I'd put up Kraftwerk's Autobahn to Die Mensch-Maschine period as almost prog. At the time, there just wasn't a whole lot of music sounding like that, and those albums have a lot of longer, moodier tracks and were usually set around a concept and even with returning musical themes and melodies throughout the album. And while Die Mensch-Maschine already had some "dance" tracks like "Die Roboter" or "Das Model", I'd say others like "Metropolis" and "Space Lab" are quite proggy.
I'd put other krautrock bands much closer to prog than kaftwerk - Tangerine Dream, Neu! (the first 2 albums), Can, and Embryo, as examples.
@@corleth84 I agree. Most of them are really close to prog to me, to the extent that I'd just call some of them prog. I was trying to reach a bit further, with a band that I haven't seen mentioned as even adjacent to prog (except maybe the frist 3 albums) because they diverged later on and helped creating other genres that were as far away from prog as you can get. I think that run of albums I mentioned still mantain plenty of proggy elements, though you can feel them getting less prevalent as the years went by.
Paul Kantner's early 70's side project albums and the first Jefferson Starship the band album, Dragonfly.
Kanter maybe, Blows Against The Empire has a bunch of longer tracks & "Starship" is a kind of mini-suite. Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra (aka The Empire Blows Back) is a pretty cool concept album (meant to accompany a novel he wrote) but not all concept albums are prog. I wouldn't call Dragonfly prog though, the title track may be the closest it gets
Strawbs - they did those six albums from Antiques to Ghosts, Rick Wakeman on two albums, lots of keyboards, bags of atmosphere, but never quite hard core prog like Genesis, Yes, ELP, etc but I always felt their song writing quality was exceptional and they had this otherworldly quality.
Excellent pick, one of my favorites I completely forgot about. They fit the bill.
Hero and Heroine and Ghosts are pretty close to the big three listed above. The others were quality albums but I’d agree, not the same as those above.
The Strawbs were Prog.
@@JIF882 I couldn't believe it when they did 'Part of the Union' . Why ??
I agree. Very underrated prog band. Subtle and delicate band. An important band. Still touring.
Scott Walker, JG Thirlwell (Foetus), David Bowie, Kate Bush, Nina Hagen...
d'EUS, Placebo, and the Butthole Surfers! 3 quite different bands but definitely with some prog elements. Btw great show guys!
Although I'm tired of hearing it, surely one the most famous songs of all time has all the elements of prog. I'm talking about Bohemian Rhapsody..
Sweet on the albums Level Headed and Cut Above the Rest had some prog elements.
Great discussion . I"m glad that you guys mentioned 10CC , Max Webster , XTC , and early Chicago , because I considered them in this category .
I would also mention bands like :
Procol Harum
Moody Blues
Be Bop Deluxe
Some songs from the Cars , even. (.for example : Moving in Stereo and All Mixed Up )
Parts of the catalogs of :
Roxy Music
The Doors
Steve Winwood
Funkadelic
Thanks !!!
Excellent discussion - lots of great info. Highly recommended!
I wouldn't call Tears for Fears "Prog" either...but, when The Hurting first came out, it definitely resonated big time with many Prog-heads during those dark days for Prog. It's a concept album (about child abuse) it's wildly inventive, and it has Prog legend Mel Collins on the sax (and some excellent sax it is!)
Songs From The Big Chair definitely has prog elements, like how Broken ties in with Head Over Heals
@@chadcassidy1580 Also, I Believe was written for Robert Wyatt from Soft Machine
@@chadcassidy1580
The Working Hour is prog a f., or art rock.
Even The Seeds of Love play with segues and interesting sound and production.
It's that type of band that prog heads love, like Steve Wilson being a prominent fan.
I was today years old when I learned Mel Collins played on TFT album. I love his work with King Crimson and Camel.
Top of my list are the early albums by Split Enz amazing stuff
Way ahead of their time!
Particularly Mental Notes (the original OZ NZ release) .. Absolute genius!! ..
@@tonydoran5147 that would be my fave too
Great episode. You really nailed this one !
I would include some post-rock stuff and Scott Walker to the list. Artists also worth mentioning: Talk Talk, Mogwai, Radiohead, Joni Mitchell and Björk
Pete's Picks: ELO, Supertramp, Ambrosia, Alan Parsons, Styx Martin's picks: later King Crimson (with Belew), later Genesis (post Duke), Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Magazine.
What absolute ridiculousness to confine prog to the UK! That would eliminate Rush and Kansas, two of the finest prog bands around, as well as others.
Great show. For New Wave Prog, is absolutely throw in early Oingo Boingo!
Can’t imagine having a collection of Prog albums without Tears for Fears in it. They are at huge fault for how I got into Prog in the first place. And I can clearly hear the Prog influences and love the complex time signatures, creativity, and the fact they make flawless albums continually. One of my favorite bands of all time.
I only caught a part of this. Heard a bit of discussion where Martin would only write a prog book if there was a poll. I like this idea! For a guy like me who only has his toes in the prog pool it would be a great reference guide.
I enjoyed reading The Strawberry Bricks Guide to Progressive rock.
I think IT BITES are a great British 80s prog band, especially their Once Around The World lp. I don't think I have heard Pete or Martin talk about them and wondered what they thought about them?
Thanks for all the videos,
I agree with Martin about Kate Bush being almost prog
Really interesting discussion. How about Manfred Manns Earthband? Their first albums up to Solar Fire are pure prog and even later they have elements of it. I also thinking about the first Journey albums, and The Strawbs, they have prog elements in the music (so many great songs!) during their whole career, still active. Their Ferrymans Curse album some years ago (I think 2017) was in some magazine voted as the best prog album of the year. What about Blue Oyster Cult, they have also prog elements in their music.
Thanks. Interesting choices, guys! :) I'm old enough to have had a TRS-80, a C64-C, etc. I grew up watching the birth & growth of the internet. Honestly, I don't know how I ever lived without it. Between my phone & my laptops, I'm constantly looking up references. Who's that actor? What year was this album? But it blows my mind to think what an incredible tool it is for learning. I can watch a video about science, math, technology, or whatever, and hear a certain term used. I can stop that video, open another tab, look up the reference, make sure I understand it, and go on with the video. I can look up how to check something about my car, or some DIY project, or chess, or music. or almost literally anything. It's better than school; I learn at my own pace about anything I want or need. What an unfathomable waste that it's used to watch cat videos, or make snarky comments on Twitter! Good God - if I'd had this when I was 10, I'd have solved quantum gravity and cured cancer by now. Beats asking your Dad! Anyway, thanks again, fellas. tavi.
Perfect choices for your #1 picks guys! So much to debate for this topic.
Pete ended the video with the right question : what is the definition of "prog" ? Ask ten fans, you will have 10 different answers. And is all that really important ? No sure ... forget the labels and love the music you want. But nevertheless, the discussion remains interesting .. as always with you, guys.
Cannibal Corpse , Immolation, Suffocation, and Morbid Angel could be considered Almost Prog. It's Death Metal, but not considered Tech Death, but there were definitely some intricate arrangements
10cc are a great mention. They were a band that when I was at school (more years ago than I care to remember) appealed to the singles buying top 40 fans along with the album buying hard rockers and proggers. I think there's any number of post punk bands that qualify for this feature, nearly all of whom were name checked if not featured. Maybe even someone like The Stranglers qualify. They fit punk chronologically but musically, for me, punk is not a great fit for the band.
A very interesting feature again guys, thanks a lot.
Surprised you guys completely forgot about Al Stewart. Started folk, but by "Past, Present and Future" through "24 Carrots" he fits in perfectly with almost-prog. Also, the Residents occasionally went into prog, particularly on "Eskimo" and "Not Available". By the way, nice to hear you guys echo what I and the other Eric basically said over the few years of going over ELO song-by-song. I think Jeff Lynne at first really wanted to get on the prog bandwagon, but his skills really were in expanding on the last few Beatles albums. Also, ELO's disco songs were some of the best of that genre.
Yes, the Residents were pretty much avant-garde, along with folks like Pere Ubu. I saw the Residents live once (along with Wall of Voodoo) and they were as bizarre as you might imagine! They were pioneers in interactive computer games also. I am a fan of Al Stewart as well; an adventurous pop-rock musician!
to sum it up: EVERYTHING IS PROG 🙂 great episode btw... 5 names from the top of my head that were not mentioned: Saga, Fish, Helloween, Angra, Joe Satriani
Golden Earring!!
Here’s an odd choice: I find some of Al Stewart’s work to have some prog like elements.
I was going to mention him too.
Not odd at all actually. Very much Prog in my opinion.
Absolutely.
You may as well throw Gary Wright in there too.
Especially Past Present and Future.
Love The Bears!!! A fantastic band!
Perfect choices! I also think of Sigur Ros and Field Music.
The Grateful Dead “Terrapin Station” from the Terrapin Station album.
Jimi Hendrix had some prog elements in some of his work. Listen to Electric Ladyland.
Great show!
So glad you included Ambrosia in your list-such an underrated and mis represented band. They were definitely at their most experimental on the first albums but the next three were very classy and sophisticated as well. I would definitely include Steely Dan on my list because their arrangements especially on Royal Scam and Aja are so complex harmonically and instrumentally and beautifully produced it is very close to Prog. Totally agree with your inclusion of Styx- they cleverly incorporated Prog rock stylings into fairly straightforward song structures to create I suppose a style which could be described as Prog Rock for people who don't like Prog Rog. Saga are another band who tried do do similar.
As someone who isn't a pure prog guy I find that it isn't the easiest genre to explore. You like some, dislike some and don't understand other things. I think bands and artists like this is a good gateway to prog from someone who enjoy metal, pop, hardrock or whatever you mainly listen to. If you like Supertramp, Kate Bush and Styx. You probably find it much easier to understand Yes and Genesis then for someone who only listened to Kiss, Foo Fighters and Bon Jovi.
"You like some, dislike some and don't understand other things" - I actually find that to be the case with all styles of music, not just prog. But I get what you're saying, "almost-prog" as a gateway to get to "real" prog makes sense. After all it's almost-prog because the music's already proggy mixed with non-prog elements that you're probably already listening to (even as a non-progger)
David Pack appears on the latest Alan Parsons release. Love the mention of City Boy! Surprising that The Fixx didn't rate a mention. Love those "art rock" bands with interesting instrumental interplay.
For me, 10cc, Supertramp, Asia, Ambrosia, Styx, ELO, The Alan Parsons Project, Queen, Procol Harum, Angel (early), It Bites, Saga, Kate Bush, Max Webster, solo albums from David Gilmour, Roger Waters, and Richard Wright. Over at Prog Archives, these artists are listed either as "Crossover Prog" or "Prog-Related". I'm surprised to see Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant's solo material on the site both considered Crossover Prog.
Definitely agree with you on the early Angel albums
Yeah hard to call Plant's solo stuff "prog"
Here's a few that got missed, Bebop Deluxe , Radiohead, Traffic.
Fates Warning was considered the most obvious predecessors of Prog Metal. I don't think that most of the John Arch era to be as complicated as the Perfect Symmetry album, even though they were a lot Heavier and I prefer their first 4 albums. There's a lot of changes on their early albums, but most of the riffs themselves were pretty simple. On Perfect Symmetry the riffs themselves were complicated, and the time changes were unbelievable
I always referred to 'almost prog' as fringe prog. I consider the '70's era of Traffic and Family as fringe prog. The 1970-1973 albums by The Beach Boys have elements of fringe prog, IMO.
Damned- "Curtain Call"
Very interesting choices
saw jane on " the walking " tour. remains one of the best shows I, have seen.
David Bowie on albums like: 1. Outside, Blackstar, Low, Heroes, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs, The Man Who Sold The World...
Martin: "Fall is here." Me: "Whaaaaa---oh yeah. Canada."
That's not accurate, I live in Canada and it's hot every single day. Just because it rains one day doesn't mean that fall is here Martin.
Be-Bop Deluxe?
One of my all time fave 70's bands! Many call them art rock, I have them under "Rock". Their later 70's stuff (my least fave period) is punkish new wave
I like how Martin looks for King Crimson's red album when he refers to the red cover of the album Discipline, but there's actually a King Crimson album called Red, which incidentally doesn't have a red cover.
ABBA (perhaps the ultimate 'this is pop, but there's a lot going on under the surface if you dig deeply')
Joanna Newsom (particularly Ys. 10 minute songs with intricate arrangements, a high-pitched voice and cryptic lyrics... Is it even 'adjacent' or is this just straight prog?)
Fairport Convention - particularly Matty Groves and Tam Lin off Liege and Lief. Folk classics extended to 10 minute jams with a young virtuosic Richard Thompson on guitar. This one's a bit more of a stretch.
Roy Harper - Stormcock (if you saw the tracklist and song length you'd swear this was a straight prog record)
Interestingly, Dave Pegg thought Tull was a better folk band than FC.
@@LarryFleetwood8675 they probably could have been if they wanted to. Then again they didn't have Sandy Denny.
All of the City Boy albums, Welsh band Man, Home (members included Mick Cook, Mick Stubbs, Cliff Williams, Laurie Wisefield, Clive Johns from Man, Jimmy Anderson), Midge Ure-era Ultravox produced by Connie Plank, the Zaragon album by John Miles produced by Rupert Holmes, early folk-inspired Wishbone Ash with Martin Turner, Golden Earring around the Moontan and Live 1977 era, Fairport Convention, Kevin Ayers, Roy Harper, Mick Abraham and Blodwyn Pig, Ten Years After, Santana, Heavy Jelly (previously Skip Bifferty), Stranglers with Down in the Sewer and the Black & White album, Television's Marquee Moon album, The Book of Taliesyn by Deep Purple with Rod Evans, especially The Shield track. I would say Cream were an early progressive band with the long expansive tracks, and that Frank Zappa's Hot Rats was an early progressive album. Todd's early Utopia albums were full-on progressive, as were Roger Powell's albums. Supertramp were one of the bands who were full-on progressive, became commercial and then returned to progressive when Rick Davies led them on his own.
Love ELO!!! but could not get into ELO II.
yep all sounded the same to me after ELO 2,band turned to pop synth
You could look at Kraut Rock as being German Prog and from those bands we got many electronic bands influenced by them like Depeche Mode , Cabaret Voltaire and many other who all have experimented with different sounds and recording techniques and it was the influence behind Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy"
"You could look at Kraut Rock as being German Prog" - I actually do, whenever I've seen references to Krautrock it's always in connection with prog. I see it as a sub-genre
I would say that the female Japanese band, Band Maid can definitely be almost prog at times. Especially with the way that they structure their songs. They still have great pop hooks. Then there is the almost fusion artists/ bands. Gino Vannelli comes to mind.
Totally agree on Band-Maid. They have so much variety in what they do that they remain interesting. Even their acoustic stuff is really good. I think they are going to become very popular in the US when they tour in the Fall.
@@tedwatson1743 wow. I thought that I was the only SOT viewer that was a Band Maid fan. Actually the opening slot on the Down Load Festival Japan in a few days is not too shabby. Dream Theater is the headliner over many other bands. Band Maid will be the only Japanese band for the entire festival.
@@scottmcgregor4829 I told Pete about Band-Maid. He listened to a bit but it's not his cup of tea. He grew up with hard rock dudes like Kiss and Maiden, so I understand his perspective. I grew up in the 60's so it's a totally different vibe. Ladies in maid costumes probably doesn't help,lol. To me they are the most refreshing thing I have heard in a LONG time.
@@tedwatson1743 he is definitely set in his ways and has his biases. I'm 7 years older than Pete I grew up listening to music from the late 60s.. I was in my early teens when the early 70s hard rock and proto metal first came out. I am at the age where I am getting tired of the music that I have been hearing for the last 50 years. I want to hear music that that is not just a retread from decades ago .
Tempano, Wishbone Ash, Supertramp, Kayak, Alquin, Agnes Obel, Japan
Seeing this show I keep thinking that it'd be cool to have a series of panels of something like "What is...?"
I mean, "What is Gothic?" or "What is Thrash?", "What is Stoner?" the seminal bands, the "almost" bands. "What is Classic?" is it because of the time period or the style? yeah, that'd be cool.
Thanks for all the shows! 🍺🤘
Love this idea
Man of Miracles rules!
I knew I could count on you Pete to bring up Chicago as they certainly had prog moments in the Terry Kath years. Some might already consider them prog, some might not. For me they were definitely almost prog.
Chicago Transit Authority (1969 ) has 'Does anybody Really Know What time it is ?' for just 1 example , then Chicago (11) has 'Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon' and '25 or 6 to 4' . (one of my all time favourites ) They're just for starters . Pete 8-)
For Chicago I think I'd make the jazz-rock argument before going to prog
SWEET/Level Headed
GOLDEN EARRING/Moontan
KATE BUSH/The Dreaming
STYX/The Grand Illusion
QUEENSRYCHE/Operation Mindcrime
10CC/The Original Soundtrack
CITY BOY/Dinner At The Ritz
ANGEL/Angel
KAYAK/Merlin-Bard of the Unseen
SWEET/Cut Above The Rest
QUEEN/A Night At The Opera
DEMON/The Plague
I really feel like Greta Van Fleet's newest album has some solid Prog tendencies. I feel like they are headed away from a Led Z direction and more toward Rush
I agree
Rush?? Really. I have to give it a listen.
@@CJINW Clockwork Angels is fabulous , and most definitely prog .
King Crimson had horns, saxophones , etc on Court of the Crimson King which ironically is considered by many as the album that started it all
-Radiohead
- Talk Talk
- Soundgarden
- Bauhaus
- Mr Bungle and Fantomas
- Bjork
- Kate Bush
- The Dillinger Escape Plan
- Nine Inch Nails
- Cocteau Twins
Pete, you raised an interesting question of what the potential trajectory of post-Abacab Genesis would have sounded like had Phil Collins never tasted success from his 2 first solo albums.
Great show guys, especially mentioning Ambrosia, Utopia, and Chicago! I am a bit surprised more recent bands were not included.
The big one for me is Grizzly Bear for the top "almost prog" band for recent bands. Listen to Yellow House and Painted Ruins. Very weird arrangements and experiments with song structures. Both albums are amazing.
Wow Martin, I totally forgot about Jane Siberry. Now I can't get "Mimi on the Beach" out of my head!
I felt the Alan Parsons Project was a prog-ish concept with a pop delivery. That had much to do with the original APP being Pilot, the Scottish band who first hit big with (Wo, Wo, Wo It's) 'Magic' in the early 70s. Bassist (and occasional APP vocalist) David Paton and guitarist Ian Bairnson stayed on over the years (Paton would leave to do various other things including Elton John, Fish (from Marillion), Camel (with Pilot drummer Stu Tosh on the 'Live On the Road - 1982' album)). They were also both on Kate Bush's early albums including the hit 'Wuthering Heights'. Paton also collaborated with Yes's Rick Wakeman, most notably adding finger-style nylon-string guitar. Both Bairnson and Paton (originally a pre-hits Bay City Roller) could skillfully straddle the divide.
Hi, Pete! Make a video "top 10 album covers bands", where you tell us band, that have your favourite album covers. Your favourite band must have the bigger number of killer album covers or, for example, 3 or 4, that you love more than 5 or 6 of your second favourite!!!
I would pick City Boy and The Sensational AlexHarvey Band.
These 3 also come to my mind : Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Mike Oldfield and Pavlov's Dog
Hi. Suggestion for a future series...."There's a great album in there somewhere"....what would the track list be? You often hear it mentioned with double albums (a great single disc in there somewhere ie The White Album etc) but with the advent of CD a lot of albums in 1990s+ were cursed with 70+ run times and weren't even classed as doubles! Which tracks would be included if it was honed down to a super tight 40 minute vinyl-style format? I often hear an album that is spoiled by one awful song (Cyberiam's Connected...can you guess the track that should never have been included?). Thoughts from SoE????
Why do you say "cursed"? To me more music is always better, if there are "too many" songs on a given album for you then you can just not listen to the extras (very easy to do with cd's). Also playlists come in very handy for that, assuming that you're creating your own "dream" disc by ripping the original tracks & putting together a CD-R. I can understand the argument that some individual tracks are too long but never got the argument that some albums are too long (unless they're exceeding the maximum cd space - approx 80 mins - by violating the Redbook standard - some don't play on some players). Now when we're talking vinyl it's a whole different story because that's a physical medium where spacing the physical grooves closer together introduces compression & loss in dynamic range. That's why it's generally a bad idea to cram additional music onto vinyl records & they're typically limited to no more than 22 minutes per side
I second that. Great idea!! There are quite a lot of albums that would be way better if narrowed to just 40 minute, but end up losing their momentum, pace, flow, whatever else you might think.
Fantastic idea. Could even do one on albums that are better with a resequenced track list.
In the post punk rant, Martin needed to include The Fall
Talk Talk
Especially the albums Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock. Very densely arranged and oddly structured songs from a band that started out as a synth pop band in the early 80's.
A case could also be made for Nine Inch Nails on The Fragile and somewhat The Downward Spiral. And I too find the lack of a mention of Queen in this video strange, as they were quite proggy at times in the 70's.
I have great affinity for "almost prog", especially the pomp rock part of that.
My fav 5 artists of almost prog:
Magnum
Styx
Saga
City Boy
Kate Bush
Fred Frith-Gravity. The Mermen-The Amazing California Health and Happiness Roadshow. Snakefinger-Greener Postures. The Residents-Mush Room. The Billy Nayer Show-Goodnight Straplight Sarentino. And a big chunk of Frank Zappa's catalog, er, I mean all of it.
The Mermen - surf prog.