mgh


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nClAGN5hIM this is one band i got into recently - Overhead, from Finland. www.youtube.com/watch?v=faMl5AmIlkU

At first listening, this band owes a lot to Per Lindh and to Terje Rypdal ... but I would like to suggest that at first listen this is inspired by Ozric Tentacles ... and yeah ... I have to admit that this was nice. OT kinda died since John left and it became the Wynne family laundry music band! Still nice, but not as nice.


Per did a lot of keyboard driven things. Terje was guitar driven, and had one thing early style that got copied 20 years later by Jeff Beck and others. (Listen to EOS) ... but his mixes are hard for some since he does it in jazzy situations, and rock situations ... and the duets he has on YouTube with that other guitarist and band are very good ... 

Rbh


Happy the Man - The great( ken ) Scott produced their first 2 albums I think.

A band that got some attention for its musicianship but did not break into the "crowd" of sales out there a whole lot, but Kit Watkins is still functioning and making wonderful music, even if most of us never heard him, or his work. Kit had a nice stint with the English band CAMEL that did not last, and that led to him putting together Happy the Man.


I have used for many years, some of Kit's photographs as backgrounds on my pages because they are fantastic. In my book, Kit is not just a musician, he is an artist!

I had no idea the Czech Republic had so much good rock music.

...wait, it's not Prague Rock?

Looks like I might actually have some free time this weekend to investigate more of these bands!  I'm just blown away at the sheer number of artists that I've never even heard of!  Let alone have something from.  Weeeee!!!

I'd recommend The Wishing Trees'  'Ostara' CD if you like low key folky prog. It's a beautiful sounding album, Rothery plays most of the instruments and gets some stunning guitar tones.

http://www.thewishingtree.com/#biography

In a few days I might post the list I've accumulated.  It's HUGE and includes a lot of Italian bands besides PFM.  I had Overhead and Wishing Tree already on there, but just added Moongarden (cool name).  For the past week or so I've been listening to my Tangerine Dream collection and, as I type this, I'm on song 1,000 (still a bunch to go).  The next year or so is going to be a lot of fun - lol!

I will, but it's going to take some time.  I'm trying to arrange it and figure out what's old prog, new prog, not really prog and also researching what albums these bands produced.  Plus, I'm still adding bunches of new bands to the list!  I still can't believe the incredible amount of music that's out there that I've never even heard of (let alone heard!).

Chaos Choir

craigb


In a few days I might post the list I've accumulated.  It's HUGE and includes a lot of Italian bands besides PFM.  I had Overhead and Wishing Tree already on there, but just added Moongarden (cool name).  For the past week or so I've been listening to my Tangerine Dream collection and, as I type this, I'm on song 1,000 (still a bunch to go).  The next year or so is going to be a lot of fun - lol!

Craigb,


You gotta post the list!


:)



Patrick

Please don't.

My collection is steadily getting close to the size of yours so, if putting a list of prog bands & albums is that offensive to some, I'll just put it up as a spreadsheet on one of my websites and send you the link (my life revolves around Excel - I'm such a geek).

Well, talking about music on a music forum doesn't sound like the best use, eh?  Maybe we should just continue to post one word replies and smilies instead.  Ya.

BTW - As mentioned elsewhere, for general playing I've found that I only need 192kbps and that there was no noticeable difference going to higher resolutions when I compared them on a $3,000 stereo system I used to have.  Since all I have that's not stored are iPods and Sharper Image towers that the iPods plug in to, I've got most of my music in iTunes which can definitely be slow at times.  I noticed that Media Monkey says it's designed for larger collections and has some compatibility with iPods.  Have you been able to compare the two yourself?

You might find something interesting here:  

http://www.progarchives.com/

Has Anglagard been mentioned yet in this thread? A short-lived Swedish band that only produced 2 albums AFAIK. Strong ELP, Yes, King Crimson and Jethro Tull influence, but not a ripoff of them. Good stuff.

Here's a sample. 

For the geeks out there, HERE is a spreadsheet compiled from Prog Archives list of artists and Prog Rock subgenres.  There are two worksheets, one by artist and one by subgenre.

I haven't started to combine "my" list with this (or at least to see which artists I already have albums from).  Plus, my list includes all of the albums for an artist showing which ones I have and which I don't.  That spreadsheet will be a while down the road if at all...

Don't complain to me if you think the artists and/or subgenres are wrong in the link above, complain to the Prog Archives.  I just compiled the information for my own use later and thought I'd share.

derFunkenstein


I had no idea the Czech Republic had so much good rock music.

...wait, it's not Prague Rock?

There is a lot more in those areas that are not even documented. For example, there is/was a band called "Anastasia" that did a portion of the soundtrack for a film that won an Oscar from Macedonia, and it was a hybrid synthesizer/folk thing that was really strong ... and I know that Greece had some really nice things, even at least one produced by Vangelis (Socrates), but all in all, this is an area that has always been under-represented in the progressive side of things. Poland would be another country ... where the movie stuff was far ahead of the whole equation, and it is hard to believe that music was not there, but at least we knew that Polish classical music was alive and well, at least in Preissner's hands ... and his soundtracks for a few folks.

Old55


You might find something interesting here:  

http://www.progarchives.com/

ProgArchives is the place I have frequented a lot ... the majority of my posts are in the Krautrock threads, as too many of the threads are by little kids trying to find out if there is music out there, and asking really thoughtful questions like ... best female in prog ... best dick in prog ... best keyboard player in prog ... you know ... the kind of things that really made us remember this stuff for so long ... it never was about "best" ... it was about the expression and different countries did things differently, and then some ... my only concern about "progressive" information in this website is that it is a veritable cemetary and there is not enough information on bands and their work, and they are not capable/willing to update their information and add some of the interviews they have, to the album/band information to create a more cohesive location for this information, that would be better than Wikipaedia is becoming. In essence, PA is a deadzone and will likely fall apart because they are not willing/capable of improving to help the genre. They are just a huge behemoth that has gotten so big that it can not even have a manicure, let alone a pedicure.
 
Saddest wast of information I have ever found!
 
Some "general" thoughts about "prog":
 
Italian - usually classical minded and some are very strong in that area, that is within a composition context as in classical music, rather than rock-n-roll
 
French - Extremely independent and very good at experiments since they are always way out there ... with no rhyme or reason. But this is very good when you hear Ange, who was inspired by Jacques Brel a lot more than ... herrrr ... Genesis ... Mr. Decamps is, by far, the best "actor" singer there is in rock music.
 
German - Very independent and don't forget that their music schools in the late 60's and early 70's went on an anti-western music thing ... that yielded a lot of stuff that ... was not what Scorpions did later or stood for! But they got famous and told the estudantes and professors to get ____________!!!
 
Spain - Massive inspiration from Yes more than anyone else, heavily combined with the Spanish guitar work and sound. Some variations are also strange for most liteners and you can find fandango rock, progressive rock and at least 5 other variations in Spain ... and all of them very independent and different ... and equally good.
 
Japan - Very different, but in the end, their best known was for having helped develop synthesizers with their bands. Yellow Magic Orchestra (Riuichi Sakamoto) is heavily known here and was a heavy hitter in the early days of Roland, and Korg. The music in Japan differs a lot and aside from their heavy amount of commercially pushed out pop (just like anime), which is massive due to its sales in Tokyo, their more progressive music tends to be ... hard to find, but is there. A lot of fusion bands. Hybrids like the early days of Sadistic Mika Band were the odd balls in the midst. Totally independent band with a psychedelic fun first album with satirical songs (Mamma Doesn't Go to Bapu Since Daddy Died!) to the outstanding album "Hot Menu" with its excellent take on Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast. The market for a long time was dominated by many individuals that went on to become massive keyboard artists on their own, including Kitaro (Far East Family Band, Chronicle), Stomu Yama'shta (better known for his work in London), Yu Mai, and so many others. All of them very good in their own individual way.
 
Latin America - Only Archie Patterson (Eurock) has spent a considerable timewarp listing these folks. And he is 2nd to none in that area. However it is really difficult to make a choice, although these days everyone of these artists has a location on the web for us to check, which gives these folks way better access than before ... when you could not get anything, and no one ... NO ONE ... even thought that these folks could do anything. They can, and they do. In Brazil, the better known stuff has always tended to move towards "jazz" which is more accepted than the street music, that is still considered "pop" and not really "music" for the most part. Egberto Gismonti, stretched this real in jazz to smithreens and he is the Brazilian Keith Jarrett and then some.