The Bathtub of Adventures

How I sold my soul for 'Baroque'n'Roll'
(A personal view of 'Prog' - Past -Present and Future)
By Ian Oakley

Part 1. 'Prog' The 1st Wave - What is 'Prog'?

For the purpose of this article I have first to put forward an argument that there is a sub genre of music, sometimes referred to as 'Progressive Rock' but is actually a small part of this term and should be more accurately identified by the term 'Prog'

UK band Porcupine Trees's Steve Wilson speaking in Classic Rock magazine 2000: "For me, the true definition of progressive music has always been a music that grew on every other kind of music and somehow found a way to create something new out of the fusion".

Personally, that is perhaps the simplest and best definition of the 'Progressive' MUSIC I have ever heard but its too wide as it can embrace everything from Modern Symphonic - Electric Folk - Jazz - right through to Dance and Rap.

So lets go to a dictionary:-

Progressive // adj. & n.
adj.
1 moving forward (progressive motion).
2 proceeding step by step; cumulative (progressive drug use).
3 a (of a political party, government, etc.) favouring or implementing rapid
progress or social reform. b modern; efficient (this is a progressive company).

Rock and roll n. (also rock 'n' roll)
A type of popular dance music originating in the 1950s, characterised by a
heavy beat and simple melodies, often with a blues element

So Ill mean "try" to define what I personally think is "Progressive Rock"

1. Rock (As In Rock and Roll*)- Music traditionally made by an electronically amplified musical ensemble comprised of a Vocalist, Rhythm guitar player, bass guitar player and Drummer.

2. Progressive - An advancement of the basic Rock and Roll music

The advancement is usually made by blending the traditional rock and roll elements with Classical Music / Jazz and sometimes even folk and reggae. And/or adding instruments to those found in the basic rock ensemble. The added instruments to the basic Rock ensemble then usually become dominant. The music created tends to be more instrumental and improvisational and in doing so attracts musicianship of a higher calibre than found in basic Rock and Roll bands.

But again even that is too wide a definition to quantify what in most peoples mind is 'Prog' the sound, the genre that will take up in most of our discussions.

We have to break it down even further. To subsection it.
(All 'Rock' based as per definition 1.)

1. Symphonic Prog

The easiest one to distinguish. Mainly, sometimes totally, instrumental music with strong, mostly keyboard dominated melodies arranged and composed in the style to be found in the genre universally known as 'Classical' music.

Prime examples: Genesis / ELP / Yes/ Camel

2. Rock or Blues Prog

Has symphonic undertones but is far more 'Rock' dominated. Less reliance on keyboards with more of an emphases put on the traditional 'Rock' instrumentation especially guitar lead work.

Prime examples - Pink Floyd/ Jethro Tull.

But this is a difficult section as it consists of seemingly the only bands haven't changed their style since the early 70's and yet have been constantly bigger (or at least on the same highpoint level) than any of the earlier Symphonic and later Neo bands (From ELP to Marillion). Their strong Rock and Blues element is perhaps why they are the only bands that have successfully always been beyond and unaffected by fashion.
There are also a lot of people that really wouldn't call them 'Prog' anyway.

However, it is the combination of the above two genres are usually what people refer to as 'Prog'

Well that is at least in Europe.

Around the same time as the tailing off of the European 'first wave' America had its own home grown answer to 'Prog' A subsection we know in Europe as 'Pomp' Rock.

'Pomp' by some used to denote a shortened use of the word Pompous but by dictionary definition:

1. A splendid display.
2. Splendour
3. Vain glory

Bear in mind 'Pomp' hit these shores at the start of Punk 1976-77. These labels originated with journalists, most of whom by the late 70's (or so it appeared) were strongly pro-punk and anti-prog).

Among the bands flying under the 'Pomp' banner I would include Styx / Boston and especially Kansas.

They all to a lesser or larger degree rely upon a European Classical influence but I think the big very obvious factor distinguishing factor between the two genres is:

'Prog' - Keyboard dominance with and this is the important thing, the guitar only used for lead work.

'Pomp' - The guitar can become dominant and takes a lot of the chord /rhythm work not found in Prog (where the keyboard primarily takes that role)

A lot of it also has to do with the vocals. The 'Pomp' vocal element added to 'Prog' is 100% American.

Coming from Americas 'West Coast' sound and Broadway Musicals - sort of The Byrds and The Beach Boys meets Beinstein (Thinking 'West Side Story' here). In fact current American band Spocks Beard's Neal Morse's performance on their epic 'The Light' reminds me so much of West Side Story - I cant quite fully explain why but it does...

And finally a lot of it has to do with 'subtlety'. For example compare the vocal styles of ELP's Greg Lake and Steve Walsh from Kansas.

Lake takes his vocal style from 'traditional' English chorister training. (His rendition and ELP's arrangement of 'Jerusalem' (England's unofficial National Anthem) still sends shivers down my spine). He has learnt the classical art of phrasing and control, building up and controlling a piece, when to be quite in the mix and when to let go of the passion.

Walsh may have a good voice, but not for 'Prog'; compared with the aforementioned Lake, he lacks subtlety with his vocals seemly predominately set at one pitch and one 'in your face' volume. I think the cause is that America has the 'crooner' tradition that Europe / the UK doesn't (Sinatra/ Monroe/ Crosby etc). Walsh is, to these ears, more of that 'school'. It's also that Las Vegas / Broadway 'Schmaltzy' 'Showbiz' thing.

Even in the instrumentation there appears to be no volume setting between the acoustic 1. and the full out Rock of 10…... 'Subtlety'……

However, rightly or wrongly Americans would also add 'Pomp Rock' to the 'Prog' umbrella.

Of course then we can go on to complicate the issue by going out to the fringes, each one deserving a separate book in their own right:

Space Rock
The Canterbury sound
Jazz Rock/ Fusion
R.I.O
Progressive Metal
etc etc

All styles that some people will and some people won't incorporate under the 'Prog' umbrella. But to proceed I have to now make the assumption that these genres, although very comfortably fitting under 'Progressive Rock', are not, to the average man in the street, 'Prog'.

'Prog' cannot be described as 'progressive'. It was once, but now has become the overall name for a very small proportion of the 'Progressive Rock' movement formed almost exclusively in England during a brief snapshot of time between the years 1967 to 1977.

Part 2 The 2nd Wave 1981-1990 - 'Neo Prog'

Ian Oakley

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