Alternative Weekend: A Delve into Ancient Progressive Music

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Ancient it says. It doesn't feel that way to me. Old music is the early sixties going backwards and this 'stuff' did not exist then. I have been listening to 'The Beatles' lately, after finishing listening to John Lennon's Biography.

While they never did anything remotely like what's below, I have to admire their originality, especially on 'Revolver' which I am currently listening to. The 'George' listen will be next, I have already finished with 'Paul'.

Supertramp – School (Crime of the Century – 1974)

I came across this band during the very late seventies with the arrival of 'The Logical Song" rising in the UK charts. In those days, I had little idea they were a progressive band, but took to the single well.

At the age of 15 or so, I was just a poor school kid obsessed with the music charts and whatever was current. This generally meant the usual mainstream tripe, which to be honest was much better than the current shite offerings we are presented with today.

‘Breakfast in America’, likewise got my ear but that was the end of the line for their ‘string of hits’. There were no more, or if so they didn’t manage to enter my lugholes for a long time.

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Why pick 'Crime of the Century' to dig into? Probably due to ProgArchives putting this one head and shoulders above the rest, it being 1974 when all the great Progressive material was being released and because a third single, 'Dreamer' happened to be on it that was OK at best.

I find Supertramp a little folky for my tastes. A little more guitar would not go amiss, and for this reason, little stuck in my head besides 'School', of which there is a certain section which gels very well with me.

Talk about picky, only one part I like and the rest sucks? Not exactly, but that’s the highlight. This is a very subtle song, never takes off in the traditional sense, and reeks of seventies progressive overtures.

Rush – The Necromancer: I. Into Darkness / II. Under The Shadow / III. Return Of The Prince (Caress of Steel – 1975)

Go forward just one year and we have 'Caress of Steel', a pre-curser to all the fantastic Rush albums to come just two or five years later. During my late teenage years, Rush came into my life and I found myself with their collective works on vinyl.

Then... I couldn't talk to anyone about this band, as all I got were strange looks or ignorance of their existence.

'The Necromancer' always held a certain fascination for me, the evil vibe it gave off, the voice-overs and the fact it was a suite with a name so long, you could not remember it.

This was typical of seventies story-type songs such as the ones made famous by Genesis, but in the case of Rush, you could always count on a lot more guitars and noise.

Like today’s music, these bands used to copy their ideas typically with some lyrics, followed by an instrumental, sometimes sizable in length which would advance the underlying story. You had to listen to take it all in, and it’s a damn shame that songs like this are not written anymore.

The same album contains another track called, ‘I Think I'm Going Bald' which always amused me. Why would you write a song with that name unless plagued by insecurities? Geddy Lee, fortunately, kept all his hair and defied the context.

Marillion – Blind Curve: I. Vocal Under Bloodlight II. Passing Strangers III. Mylo IV. Perimeter Walk V. Threshold (Misplaced Childhood – 1985)

Ten years into the future and the progressive bands had all but died out. My heroes, Genesis had sold out to the mainstream and we were about to witness 'Invisible Touch' just a year later, an album full of chart-toppers which turned them into stadium fillers.

I watched warily from a distance, sad to see my one-time idols gone and despaired of any great progressive music ever appearing again. This was my other half, the one I showed to nobody.., or else I would be a typecast as a weirdo.

...'when Fish left, I lost interest. I am probably missing some great Hogarth songs'... - Source

Marillion were present but I only knew of them due to the likes of ‘Kayleigh' which hit the charts at number two. Unknown to me in 1985 as a mostly singles purchaser, I was unaware that their album was going to be hailed as a masterpiece years later.

Bitter Suite or Blind Curve? Misplaced Childhood sports two of these seventies-style suites of songs broken into several sections, both of them fantastic and containing wonderful sections by Steve Rothery who has never received the credit due to him.

The album was one of those uncool concept albums at the time and the tracks tend to meld into one another with no breaks.

While Blind Curve weighs in at over nine minutes, it is better to listen to the whole of Misplaced Childhood in a single listen.

Guitar Image - Source