Trollheart

That's all true, kind of what I said when I qualified my dismissal of SAM: I said the album itself did not seem to me to be anywhere near prog but that the Captain had undeniably an influence on the artists who would be. But compared to the likes of the Moodys, Nice and Floyd, his input on that album would be seen as minimal to me. Kind of like Zappa too. I understand they sort of put the key in the ignition (or maybe, sold the car might be closer) that bands like Yes, Rush, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Camel, Floyd and ELP took out for a screaming joyride down the highway. Without that salesman there would theoretically be no joyride (I do love these colourful metaphors, don't I?) but it's the driver who makes the journey.

Also: remember? Fuck it man: I was four years old in 1967! I can just about remember "A windmill in old Amsterdam", an underappreciated classic of its time!

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Unknown Soldier

Have been too busy recently to check up on people's journals here as I like to do, but have skimmed through some of your recent reviews (will read in more detail this weekend) but can't complain with any of your reviews so far, in relation to what is progressive rock at this roots stage.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

If 1967 was a pretty nascent year for prog rock, the following year would prove to be even more so. Bands who would rise to become true giants in the field would be formed in 1968, though many of them would not release their first album for another year, even two in some cases, and then, their debuts would not always be the groundbreaking classics later ones would grow to be. I guess if you consider 1967 --- and to some smaller extent, 1966 --- as the nursery years of prog rock, 1968 was when the chicks began hatching; breathing the air but as yet nowhere near strong enough to fly.

Put another way, the seeds that had been sown were beginning to grow, but would still need a whole lot of sunshine before they could bear any fruit. Once they did, though, everyone would want a taste! Here then are some of the important bands that got together this year.

Note: as this gets a little closer to the sort of prog rock I’m familiar with, I’m introducing a new category, which with typical self-effacement and humility I’m calling “The Trollheart Factor”. This is an indication of how well, if at all, I know and am familiar with the artiste in question, and how qualified I am therefore to speak about them. I’ll also add this to album reviews, as even though I may know some artistes well, there may be albums of theirs I’m not that well versed in.

Further note: since I’ve a pain in my arse writing the word “incarnation” all the time, I’m in future going to indicate each time the band reformed with a Roman numeral (bein’ a bit of a pretentious git), so the original lineup will be (i), a reformed one (ii), the next (iii) and so on, put after the relevant years.

Even further note: for those bands or artistes with which I am very unfamiliar or even know nothing about, and where I can't determine quickly their impact on the subgenre, I will just put a question mark, and it can be amended later, when I've read more about them or listened to them.


Amon Düül II (1968 – )

Nationality: German
Original lineup: Chris Karrer, Dieter Serfas, Falk Rogner, John Weinzierl and Renate Knaup
First relevant album: Phallus Dei, 1969

Impact: 6
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked to:

Progenitors of what would become known as Krautrock, Amon Düül II grew up out of a hippy commune in Germany, where the music really originally came second to paying the bills to keep the camp open. Apparently in the beginning they worked really hard --- ”The band played almost every day” according to Wiemzierl. “We played universities, academies, underground clubs, and every hall with a power socket and an audience.”

Art Zoyd (1968 - )

Nationality: French
Original lineup: Gerard Hourbette
First relevant album: Symphonie pour le jour où brûleront les cités, 1976
Impact: ?
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with:

French avant-garde, free jazz and experimental band that seems to have been under the direction of one man, the abovenamed Gerard Hourbette. Part of the Rock In Opposition movement.

Brainbox (1969-1972 (i), 2004 - (ii))

Nationality: Dutch
Original lineup: Jan Akkerman, Pierre van der Linden, Kazimir Lux
First relevant album: Brainbox, 1969

Impact: 4
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with: Focus

Most famous as the launching board for Focus, Brainbox released three albums(including, weirdly, a “Best of” after just one album!) before they split in 1972. They reunited in 2004 and have since released another two albums plus a live one, the last being put out in 2011.

Can (1968 - 1979, (i)1986 - 1989 (ii))

Nationality: German
Original lineup: Michael Karoli (RIP), Jaki Lebezeit, Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, David C. Johnson, Malcolm Mooney
First relevant album: Monster Movie, 1969

Impact: 9
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with:

Another band instrumental in the Krautrock era, Can are one of the most well-remembered and artistes from Joy Division and The Fall to Bowie and Talking Heads cite them as an influence on their music, with Brian Eno composing a short movie in tribute to them. Although they disbanded in 1979 they reunited seven years later to record one more album. There were sporadic other appearances by them over the years, but since these usually concerned recording a track or a live performance I’m not counting them. They remain however a huge influence right across the music world, from jazz to avant-garde to electronica and of course prog rock.


Caravan (1968 - 1978 (i) 1980 - 1985 (ii) 1990 -1992 (iii) 1995 - (iv))

Nationality: British
Original lineup: David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings, Richard Coughlan (RIP)
First relevant album: Caravan, 1968

Impact: 8
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with: Soft Machine, The Wilde Flowers

One of the premier bands in what would become known as the Canterbury Scene, Caravan were not a commercially successful band, but then, a large percentage of prog rock bands can say the same thing, and the real success lies in the legacy they leave behind and the bands they influenced.

Deep Purple (1968 - 1976)

Nationality: British
Original lineup: Rod Evans, Nick Simper, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Ritchie Blackmore
First relevant album: Shades of Deep Purple, 1968 (but really Deep Purple in Rock, 1970)

Impact: 3
The Trollheart Factor: 5
Linked with: Rainbow, Whitesnake, Ian Gillan Band, Roundabout

I don’t really want to get bogged down too much exploring or talking about bands who were more or less just on the fringes of the progressive rock scene and who made their name in other spheres, and this certainly applies to Deep Purple, whom everyone will know as primarily a hard rock or even heavy metal band. But they began as prog rock and it might (might, depending on how many albums were released in this year) be interesting to see the direction they had originally been heading in. I’m also only recording their active years above as the times when they played what could be termed progressive rather than hard rock.

Henry Cow (1968 - 1978)

Nationality: British
Original lineup: Tim Hodgkinson, Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler
First relevant album: Legend, 1973

Impact: ?
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with:

One of the few British RIO bands, Henry Cow seemed determined to stay out of the mainstream, even of progressive rock, and they seemed to compose their music by committee, having actual meetings where they thrashed out the ideas and decided which ones to use and which to discard. Their music has been described as inaccessible, overcomplicated and brilliantly innovative.

King Crimson (1968 - 1974 (i) 1981-1984 (ii) 1994 - 2004 (iii) 2007 - 2008 (iv) 203 - (v))

Nationality: British
Original lineup: Robert Fripp, Peter Sinfield, Greg Lake, Ian MacDonald
First relevant album: In the court of the Crimson King, 1969

Impact: 10
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with: A host of acts, including but not limited to 21st Century Schizoid Band, ProjeKCts, UK, Giles, Giles and Fripp, Crimson Jazz Trio and Porcupine Tree

One of the true giants of the progressive rock scene, King Crimson bestrode the movement like a colossus. Or so I’m told. Personally, I’ve never heard anything by them, and while this may be reason in some people’s minds to sting me up with the strings of a Hammond, I readily admitted when I began this journey that there were prog rock bands, many of them considered essential to the genre, whom I had not heard, and Crimson are one of them. Needless to say, I’ll be redressing that here. Driven by the genius and some would say tyranny of founder Robert Fripp, King Crimson shied from the pop song, or melodies too easy to play, and they certainly did not seem to court (sorry) chart success. Yet they have remained both one of the most influential bands not only in progressive rock but in music as a whole, and continue to confound their critics, still rocking after over forty-five years.

Rush (1968 - )

Nationality: Canadian
Original lineup: Geddy Lee, John Rutsey, Alex Lifeson
First relevant album: Fly by night, 1975

Impact: 9
The Trollheart Factor: 7
Linked with:

Beginning life as a blues rock band with their debut album, Rush soon began incorporating fantasy lyrics and themes into their music with the release of their second album, and quickly identified with the progressive rock crowd. One of the first, if not the first, progressive rock bands to come out of Canada, they have remained with pretty much the same lineup since 1974, always a power trio, and singer Geddy Lee has become famous for his high-pitched, often falsetto vocals. Rush released some of the most seminal prog rock albums of the seventies, including 2112, Caress of steel, A farewell to kings and Hemispheres.

The United States of America (1967 - 1968)

Nationality: American
Original lineup: Joseph Byrd, Dorothy Moskowitz, Gordon Marron, Rand Forbes, Craig Woodson, Ed Bogas
First relevant album: The United States of America, 1968

Impact: ?
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked with:

These poor guys split after recording only one album. Despite being the only band at the time I know of (as if that means anything!) to use instruments like calliope, harpsichord, fretless bass and electric violin, and not have any guitars at all, tensions within the band led to their disbanding a year after they got together. Their single album has however gone down in the annals of the history of prog rock, psychedelic music and avant-garde rock, it says here.

Yes (1968 - 1981 (i) 1984 - 2004 (ii) 2008 - (iii)

Nationality: British
Original lineup: Jon Anderson, Chris Squires, Peter Banks, Tony Kaye, Bill Bruford
First relevant album: Yes, 1969

Impact: 10
The Trollheart Factor: 6
Linked with: The Buggles, The Syn, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe

Another giant of the genre, Yes built their appeal and their fame on intricate keyboard passages, long, multi-part songs, and the soaring soprano voice of Jon Anderson. Some of their songs took up one full side of an album (Close to the edge, Tales from topographic oceans) and as a result, though hugely popular in the seventies they became identified as one of the bands against whom the punk rock backlash hit out, calling music such as they played pompous, overblown, and irrelevant. Well, they probably called it pretentious shite, but we’re not going to say that here.

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Frownland

Ok, before your next journal entry, you have a homework assignment: listen to In the Court of the Crimson King. Extra credit: videotape yourself listening to Art Zoyd or Henry Cow for our enjoyment. I think you could probably put a relatively high number for Henry Cow's impact rating because they pretty much started the RIO scene.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Unknown Soldier

Trollheart, you mean to tell me that you've never listened to a King Crimson album?

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

I thought I'd succeeded in telling you I've never listened to a King Crimson album! Don't be shocked: I told you that before joining MB I had a select few bands/artistes I liked, and stuck with them. I liked Genesis, Marillion, Rush, but not ELP, Yes (early) or Dream Theater for instance. There's a lot I have to catch up on, certainly.

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Urban Hat€monger ?

Can disbanded in 1972 ?????
Who recorded the other 8 albums they put out that decade then?

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Trollheart

Sorry! Brain implosion! I of course meant 1979. It's been changed now. Glad to see you're paying attention...

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Trollheart

The albums then for 1968 are, to me, something of a disappointment. Not because of the albums themselves, per se, but because with very few exceptions they're just albums by each of the artistes I featured in the previous year, but some of them went on to be very famous and influential. Still, I would of choice have preferred albums from new artistes, but as mentioned in the last entry, some of the bigger acts (Yes, Rush, King Crimson) were only getting together at this point and it would be a year or two later before we would see any material from any of them. As we get further into the seventies I assume new artistes will tend to crop up more often, but as of now, here's what we have to work with.

We're only in it for the money --- The Mothers of Invention

Ah, Frank Zappa how I hate you. You and Beefheart seem to epitomise everything I dislike about experimental music, but this album is apparently important, in that it was something of a backlash against another album that had come out the previous year and was heralding the birth of progressive rock itself, The Beatles' Sgt Peppers. I have fears for my sanity when I read about the composition of Zappa's album, but we'll give it a go.

The United States of America --- The United States of America

Already mentioned in the piece on the bands formed in 1968, this was the one and only release from this band, so if nothing else I owe it to their memory to listen to it and allow it its place in progressive rock history. Will I regret it? Probably.


A saucerful of secrets --- Pink Floyd

Floyd's second album heralded the arrival of Dave Gilmour, originally to “prop up” the undependable and increasingly erratic Syd Barrett, though he would fairly quickly replace him as the founder left the band. After this, Waters and Gilmour would solidify their creative control over the band's music and Pink Floyd would begin to head in one direction, with fame and fortune and legendary status beckoning.


Music in a doll's house --- Family

To be honest, I'm not so sure about this one. I know nothing at all about Family and have a feeling they may be more in the psychedelic/hippy mould rather than prog, but I'll include it and see what people think, if anyone cares to advise me. It is in the list of 30 Cosmic Rock Albums, so there's that I guess.


In search of the lost chord --- The Moody Blues

Third overall, second progressive rock album by the Moody Blues, another concept record but this time they played all the music themselves rather than use an orchestra. It includes Indian ethic instruments like the tabla and the sitar, and ends on a track that would be immortalised by Lister in the series Red Dwarf: it's called “Om”...


The cheerful insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp --- Giles, Giles and Fripp

Precursor to the mighty King Crimson, how could we not check this one out?


Caravan --- Caravan

As already noted above, Caravan would go on to become an integral part and driving force of what would come to be known as “The Canterbury Scene”. This was their debut album.


This was --- Jethro Tull
Another band I never got, this was the debut album from Jethro Tull.


Ars longa, vita brevis --- The Nice

Second album from Keith Emerson's The Nice, who impressed me so surprisingly with their debut effort.


S.F. Sorrow --- The Pretty Things

Just getting in under the wire --- released in the UK in December 1968 and not until August of the following year 'cross the pond --- this is another one I'm not sure about, but it is a concept album so should probably be looked into.


The Soft Machine --- Soft Machine

Another band pivotal in the Canterbury Scene, this is the debut album from Soft Machine.


Shine on brightly --- Procol Harum

Continuing their pioneering work in progressive rock, Procol Harum released their second album neat the end of 1968.

So that's our list for 1968. I'll start reviewing them in the next entry. If anyone has comments, thinks I'm missing an album out or wants to offer any advice, you know what to do!

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Trollheart

Okay, well starting at the top I guess we're stuck with Zappa again. It's funny: from the few albums sleeves of his I had seen when much younger I somehow had a feeling I would not like his music, and while this is certainly not a good basis upon which to form an opinion of a band, my original impressions do seem to have been borne out here, because anything I've listened to from him has either been meh or too off the charts for me. I don't quite get (though I'm sure others will explain, probably in some detail and with eyes rolling) his contribution to progressive rock. I have of course yet to listen to this album, but from what I've read about it it seems it will be the same sort of mishmash of sounds, effects, words, tapings and other assorted oddities that make up the likes of Beefheart's fearful Trout Mask Replica and which indeed informed the second half of Zappa's Freak out! If that's the case, I don't really see how that applies to progressive rock.

Nevertheless, many artistes prominent in the subgenre have stated him as an influence, and I guess it must be accepted that he was part of the push towards a more experimental, loose and improvisational attitude towards music, turning away from the basic rock and roll of the late fifties/early sixties and incorporating elements of jazz, blues, soul and the emerging psychedelia into compositions. The title of this journal is “I know what I like”, and I know what I don't, but in fairness I can't just listen to what I like here. This is the history of progressive rock, and there will undoubtedly be bands and artistes in there that I don't care for, but who will have to be reviewed and spoken of anyway. Guess FZ is one of those. Let's get this over with then.

Released as, as mentioned above, a kind of anti-Sgt Peppers, The Mothers' third album featured a lot of instrumental music which appeared on Zappa's solo effort, Lumpy gravy, which I had originally intended to cover but then backed out of (chicken gravy?), and both are seen as part of a trilogy, completed by Cruising with Ruben and the Jets, released at the end of the year, all to be tied together under the banner title of No Commercial Potential. Indeed.

Album title: We're only in it for the money
Artiste: The Mothers of Invention
Nationality: American
Label: Verve
Year: 1968
Grade: B
Previous Experience of this Artiste: Freak Out!
The Trollheart Factor: 1
Landmark value: Seen to be striking a blow against what was becoming to be seen as the overcommercialisation of music, and specifically against The Beatles, it's seen as a landmark album. I'll reserve judgement until I've heard it.
Tracklisting: Are you hung up?/ Who needs the Peace Corps?/ Concentration Moon/ Mom and dad/ Telephone conversation/ Bow tie daddy/ Harry, you're a beast/ What's the ugliest part of your body?/ Absolutely free/ Flower punk/ Hot poop/ Nasal retentive calliope music/ Let's make the water turn black/ The idiot bastard son/ Lonely little girl/ Take your clothes off when you dance/ What's the ugliest part of your body? (Reprise)/ Mother people/ The chrome plated megaphone of destiny
Comments: Okay, so the usual spoken-word nonsense I've to associate Zappa and to a lesser extent Beefheart with gets us under way, not exactly helping my attempts to be unbiased towards this album. At least there's music for the second track, and you can certainly see where they're slagging off the Fab Four here. Hey you know it's not bad. Like the humour: ”I will love everybody/ I will love the police/ As they're kicking the shit out of me.” “Concentration moon” is decent too, as is “Mom and dad”. This is a lot more, um, musical than I had expected, I must say! “Telephone conversation” is exactly what it says on the tin, which does not surprise me. Seems to be a 911 call though, which is interesting. “Bow tie daddy” is like a twenties song, but I actually like it. Mind you, it's only seconds long.

There's a lovely classical piano intro to “Harry, you're a beast”, and it's a good enough track to be fair. I know they're kind of slagging off the Beatles and psychedelic pop here, so maybe that's why it sounds so, ah, palatable to me? But either way, it's turning out to me a far more enjoyable experience than I expected. “Flower punk” is funny, ripping off “Hey Joe”, then it's like Vangelis's “Beauborg” (huh? Educate yourself man!) for “Nasal retentive calliope music” --- just weird to the max. Most of the album though is (dare I say it) listenable and decent music. Colour me surprised.

Favourite track(s): (Did not expect to be filling this in at all but as it happens...) Who needs the Peace Corps?, Concentration moon, Mom and dad, Harry, you're a beast, Let's make the water turn black, Flower punk, Lonely girl, The idiot bastard son, Take your clothes off when you dance
Least favourite track(s): (And this is a lot less populated than I expected it to be...) Hot poop, Nasal retentive calliope music, Mother people, The chrome plated megaphone of destiny
Overall impression: A lot of strange sounds but apart from that and the odd backward-masking effect, not at all bad really. I know: I'm surprised too!
Personal Rating:
Legacy Rating:
Final Rating:

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