Hello awesome followers,
Today I am going to present you one of a sub-genre of rock music, and it is awesome !!!
So I am presenting to you progressive Rock/Metal.
This Rock-music is, for me, the most impressive.
Before going in to the details of the songs and groups, I will explain to you why it is awesome.
Progressive Rock is a genre that came from the psychedelic Rock or Art Rock in the 60s / 70s.
The bands abandoned the pop song short singles to make more important compositions. They wanted to enhance critical respect in comparison with classical or jazz music.
The progressive Rock songs are so long (5 to 40 minutes long suites) and with many different themes. It is usually varied and requires generally high musical skills. The innovative aspect really impresses me. They always find a way songs to find new inspiration while doing really long songs.
Besides, this music demands more effort from the listener, to really follow this music.
Progressive Rock had its creative peak in the 70's, then it began to fade when progressive Rock, influenced by heavy metal too, revived it, but it never was very popular, popmusic being way easier to follow and to dance to.
One of those bands is Yes, which began in 1968 and is now seen as one of the first bands of progressive Rock.Here is one song by them: (observe the varied themes and try to resist to the 10 minutes of this song)
yes - Starship Trooper HD verion
yes - Starship Trooper Live Version (AWESOME solos at 7"30)
Another way more known band is Pink Floyd. No introduction here. One of my favorite songs who is a bit different to the most of their popular songs. It is very long, with various themes and try's to really to immerse the listener in another world. To listen while no noise around.pink floyd - echoes
Another prog Rock Band is Supertramp, who begins in 1969 and makes big sales in the 70's.
One of their best songs is "Fool's overture". The song is 11 min long and the singer starts at 5 min in to the song. This shows how instrumental progressive Rock is. Unlike Pop-songs or the punk/pop- Rock the most attention isn't given to the singer.
Supertramp - Fools Overture
If you're interested in the awesomeness of progressive Rock you have many more Bands to explore. (Jethro Tull, he Moody Blues, Genesis, ... ) Even Muse can be put under the Prog Rock banner with Undisclosed desires- the resistance.
One last Ban who represents more the progressive Metal is Dream Theater.They do really long songs with more guitar solos and are a little bit less influenced by psychedelic rock than the previous Bands. As a guitar player I can just enjoy these riffs.
One of my favorite songs :
This track is awesome don't you think !!!
Dream Theater - Metropolis I
I hope you will enjoy this Prog Rock presentation and see how impressive that is. Even if you're not really enjoying this you can see the effort put in to it and the talent of the Bands. Such longs song are not profitable, because they take longer to make and don't fit in most people's interests. I have no hope that Prog Rock will return like it was in the 70's, but it is still awesome.
Sincerely,
Your awesome blogger
Yann
#15 I'm also a big fan of rock music because when I was a child (and still now actually!) my dad used to put some Yes and Pink Floyd's CDs in the car.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite song of Yes is maybe the most famous one : "Owner of Lonely Heart". I assume you know it, but I give you a link, just for the pleasure of listening to it one more time (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELpmmeT69cE).
Did you know that Pink Floyds members have (or had for some of them) a very large sense for humor and chose for their album "Atom Heart Mother" a cow for its cover?
Regarding Supertramp, I love the song "Another man's woman" thanks to its piano's solo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVTIF1VuvoY&index=14&list=AL94UKMTqg-9CcbX0V2PqSb9RMexRfZKhc).
However I don't know anything about Dream Theater! But thanks to your blog I will listen to it!
I think your blog is very interesting for people who don't know rock music and it's fantastic for those who know it because we can listen to it again and love it more!
Finally someone who knows and still enjoys progressive rock. I thought I was the only one!
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog. I learned a lot about the beginnings of this type of rock. It was instructive and well structured, so that the reading was easy.
Your choice of music was amazing : I liked rediscovering the group Yes, and discovering Dream Theater. I also got to know this music by my parents (Pink Floyd my dad and Supertramp my mother).
The music Echoes is for me very transcendant, it is like a key to another world or a teleportation song in direction of outer space.
I would have like it even more (if it's possible ;)), if you had, for instance, described your feelings when you listen to one of those awesome songs!
Rémi #10
I was pleased to read your article whose theme didn’t surprise me given your musical taste (that I already share by the way). I think our generation could benefit of this awesome music particularly because the youth or our parents was accompanied by it!
ReplyDeleteI loved the way you have structured your article with the presentation of bands. I share the same favorite song from Dream Theater with you and I like Pink Floyd’s music too, but I discovered the two other groups by listening to the links you published. I’m glad you wrote about Progressive Metal which is very relieved by these long guitar solos. In comparison to Metal is Progressive Metal more approachable and sensitive.
Progressive Rock is for me the ancestor of many current music movements, and unlike you I’m pretty sure it could become contemporary again! We all agree: musical tastes have become universal and music turned from passion to business. However, in my view, it would only require that new groups lead the field. Nevertheless I found your opinion both interesting and justified.
Thank awesome blogger!
#7