Prog Folk from the Anglosphere

Neapolitan · 04-18-2016, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^

OK, we can let it go this time...

Anyway, John Barleycorn is a well-known album that's often considered to be prog folk. TBH, it's never felt that way to me. It's an album of rock edging towards jazz and it just happens to latch on to a folk song for it's title track:-

Traffic is one of my favorite bands. I was going to bring them up not so much as a full fledged Folk-Prog band, but a band who occasionally writes a song in the Acid Folk/Prog Folk style. Chris Wood was the one who was into Jazz, Classical and English Folk, so from my point of view I see John Barelycorn Must Die as an example of one of Chris' many electric interest.

Besides not being called a Prog Folk band, I really haven't seen Traffic described by any one as Progressive Rock, even though their exploration into other music areas is just as strong as other Prog bands. Maybe the reasons for this is that started in the Psychedelia era and then later tend to have a stronger Jazz & R&B influence. I'm not too hung up on tagging bands by genres, because a lot of time they cover a wide range of styles. I much prefer what the artists think of their music. Pentangle called their music "Thirteenth Century Rock and Roll," and Traffic called their music the "Headless Horseman Sound."

Traffic - Hidden Treasure

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

^ An little-known band and an interesting, complex song, Neapolitan. It's the kind of song that requires a few listens I think, so I'll be coming back to play it again.Thanks.

It seems pretty clear that Fuchsia take their name from one of the characters in that sprawling, wordy classic of gothic fiction, the Gormenghast trilogy. If anyone is in doubt, check out the cover of this paperback edition of the first novel, Titus Groan, which shows the author's own drawing of Fuchsia:-

Spoiler for big pic of the original Fuchsia:

So this a good place to mention the band that actually called themselves Titus Groan and who, by coincidence, are kind of prog-folky too. This is one of the better tracks off their album, and the song title refers to a part of the enormous Gormenghast castle in which M Peake's novels are set.

^ I haven't Heard the name Fotheringay in years, Psy-Fi ! That video clip is a real time capsule back to the style of so many English bands in the seventies; so serious about getting their music right, so uninterested in putting on a show of any kind.

As for Curved Air, I used to love their Vivaldi tracks, but I'm not sure if they really count as Prog Folk. Unless you can demonstrate otherwise, I'm afraid I'll have to report you to a mod for going off topic!

Thanks for not totally dismiss it and giving it another try. The lyrics of Fuschia reminds me something between the Psychedelic songs Dave Mason wrote in Traffic and Syd Barrett writing and singing style. Fuschia's music has a sound that is sometimes like Genesis and other times like ELO.

Other book related songs in Acid Folk/Prog Folk would be Aslan (C.S. Lewis) and Magician in the Mountain (J. R. R. Tolkien).

Caedmon - Aslan

There are two bass players that are credit on the album The Sound Of Sunforest, Joe Mudele and Herbie Flowers. The latter played bass for David Bowie and Lou Reed, and played bass on Walk on the Wild Side ... believe it or not. Herbie Flowers was only paid £17 for his contribution on the song. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sunforest - Magician In The Mountain

That whole magician in a mountain theme is taken up again with the Tree's song Murdoch - one of my all time favorite Prog Folk songs. The guitar playing reminded me of the Outlaws, and I sometimes wonder if Mutt Lange owned this album, a steered the Outlaws in that direction ... or maybe they were influenced by the same bands. The Trees were influenced by the San Fransisco Acid Rock groups as well of course English bands like Pentangle.

Trees - Murdoch