BRITISH PROG IS THE BEST!

In the 70´s there was almost nothing but British bands

I'm happy to inform you that you are wrong! Trust me, this is a good thing. In fact, this whole thread likes to pretend Italy doesn't exist. And while the UK produced some of the best prog (back when), it's also produced some of the worst.

Blacksword wrote: Its been pointed out by many in this discussion, that there are good prog acts from countries other than the UK. Good they may be, but I think its fair to say we had the most successful bands. Successful because they were the best?? Maybe, maybe not. Thats all down to taste and opinion. What makes Engalnd the home of prog, IMO, is that this is where it originated. Can anyone tell me what progressive music was being made in the US or elsewhere when the Floyd, Moody Blues, The Nice, etc were starting out??

Prog? Nope...I think the UK (mainly England) pretty much deserves all the credit for giving us the first great prog bands. Nobody is going to say that Floyd, ELP, Genesis, Yes, Crimson, etc., aren't the head of the pack- either success-wise or influence-wise.

From a different angle, though, the psychedelic era inspiration for prog (the genre's immediate cause) comes directly from the US. Bands like Pink Floyd weren't yet doing anything more definatively progressive than the Californian bands they emulated. Even if you dispute that Zappa's "Freak Out" was a true concept album, it predates most of the 'proto-prog' work that was happening elsewhere.

philippe wrote: You are right Emdiar (up to a certain point)... but what do you think of german prog bands as Nektar, Gila, Grobschnitt, Novalis...their albums are certainly badly distributed compared to English prog, but it dosen't mean that because they don't sell that they are not classics.

Since when were Nektar German? They may have launched their career there, but then so did the Beatles and no one would ever accuse them of being anything other than Scousers. No, Nektar are/were Brits to a man.

Blacksword wrote: Can anyone tell me what progressive music was being made in the US or elsewhere when the Floyd, Moody Blues, The Nice, etc were starting out??

As I said (and as Jon Anderson amongst other acknowledges), you can't ignore TOUCH - the pity is that the prog historians have, (most of whom seem to be American - Macan, Lucky - who got into the music at the end of 70's), which I put down to poor research.

And please careful with your semantics here, e.g. with words like "originated", because it is easy to find American bands playing some semblance of what became known as "prog" in the mid-60's. ("Origin/originated" being used as Charles Darwin's "Origin Of the Species"). Then I won't argue too much with Jerry Lucky's contention that the the London Festival Orchestra/Moody Blues Days Of Future Past" can be considered the first real prog rock album - but based on rules constructed for defining prog rock 10 or more years after the album's release - those of us who were around the time of the album's release, know that Days Of Future Past was 80%+ luck and less than 10% judgement, especially in becoming a prog record. As I've written elsewhere this was an experiment by Decca Record's Phase 4 department (who specialised in stereo recordings, when much of the market was still monoaural), to put together orchestra (first) and (second) pop group. (The Moody Blues were available languishing on Decca's books and they hadn't  had a hit since Denny Laine had left them, and called in having some tunes). As an experiment, the new developing rock market in the UK called "fraud", and avoided buying the album. Nights In White Satin was at first a minor hit single - and the MB went to the States (like the Who , Cream and before them) to find some future - Forever Afternoon (Tuesday) having been big over there in the singles market (not in the UK) and the band shift from pending obscurity to fame & fortune.

Then some of us would take issue as to when Floyd stopped being an English psychedelic band and became strictly progressive rock- Dark Side Of The Moon for instance? I guess by then, Kansas were around!

Again I've written this elsewhere: Krimson biographer Sid Smith for 2 or more years, has been researching and interviewing personalities/artists/musicians on the British music scene in the mid/late 60's for a book - tentatively called Elastic Rock - in some attempt to correct a significant amount of allusion/illusion about the early days of progressive rock. Sooner it gets published the better.

Gentlemen, I'm sorry, but reading this topic it seems there's a lot of people living in the past. OK, Genesis, Yes, etc., were the best bands (even so, Italian bands were at the same level, but unknown or underrated). Look at the eighties, and think about the same great bands making crap. Look at the nineties, and compare British and Scandinavian scene... And 30 years after, at present time, how many British bands are standing out? 

Why don't you go by decades?

60's: American and British Psycodelia had the lead as Proto Progger's.

70's GB and Italy have the lead along with a few Italian, German and USA bands.

80's: Better forget that decade

90's: This decade was Swedish by large, being Anglagard, Anekdoten and Par Lindh Project the best prog' rockers without doubt.

00's: Prog is spread all over the world, most of the early monsters are mainly live performers with no more valuable compositions (Except a few like Hackett and Gabriel).

New bands come from all around the world take the lead. Magenta UK is amazing, Trespass Israel is outstanding, Par Lindh Project from Sweden is still among the best, Hackett keeps releasing great music as Gabriel from UK; Echolyn, Dream Theater, Glass Hammer from USA, there are great bands from other countries like Teru's Symphonia from Japan or even from some ex Soviet Republics and don't forget South America.

So British Prog' was the starter, but the genre soon spread to the rest of the world.

Iván

Yes, it's true that in the late sixties and early to mid-seventies the UK had the most talented group of musicians to ever grace the planet earth at the time for rock music as well as progresssive rock.

They lost that distinction around the second half of the seventies when punk and new wave music took over (people that prefer that kind of music would disagree).

Where are the new UK progressive bands now? I can think of Threshold and a few others but that hardly qualifies as ruling the world anymore.

90's: This decade was Swedish by large, being Anglagard, Anekdoten and Par Lindh Project the best prog' rockers without doubt.

By "large"? Misconception. Those bands had but two studio albums apiece throughout the entire decade (one even split up). Yes, Anglagard made a big spash at the very first ProgFest, and I also like PLP. I've just never regarded Sweden as a hotbed like, say, Italy or Japan. In the '90s, tons of new/er groups sprung up, some embracing the past, some combining the best of old and new. Many of these bands originated from the USA, Japan, and Brazil & Argentina.

I don't think the eighties can be ignored entirely:

IQ -Tales from The Lush Attic/The Wake

Marillion - Script/Misplaced Childhood

Rush - Moving Pictures/Power Windows

Plus there were albums from Jethro Tull,Yes .ELPowell and Pink Floyd released in that decade that I know some people like even if I don't!

But that's an aside to the debate.The template for prog was created in the seventies by Yes,ELP,Genesis,Floyd,Crimson,Tull .Without these great bands there wouldn't be a genre worth talking about and indeed they are all British! You can also add Rush as non British but even they took a lot of inspiration from those pioneering bands as did PFM and all the Italian bands that could be mentioned.