Dreamy prog songs

 

I think that the thought is a good one. It has some merit. But it is not absolute, mostly because "progressive" music is not an acceptable term in music history. It might get there in 100 years, but you will have a hard time making it visible to old crones that are simply validating their jobs and making sure you don't get yours! ... after all they have senility ... ooops ... seniority ... or is it ... ?

 

The only concern I would have with this, and I have been away from the academic world for some time now and was in it because dad was top line of the academic literary world and founded the original and first Comparative Literature field in America (UC systems), and the acceptance for anything more modern was horrendous then (30 years ago), and it is still the same. UCSB, is still teaching the same classes today that it did then, when I graduated! That's progressive education right there!

 

I would think that you have to establish "progressive rock" first.

 

And make sure it is solid and firm and understood. If not, your idea/concept, is going down hill fast and you are going to see some yawns quickly! And this is the part that bothers me ... all you have to do is take a look at the "idea" of progressive music here, and no one can agree on anything and we all can find an article of review that the definition means nothing to a lot of the very artists that we love so much.

 

The other part is making sure you have a solid list of work. I keep thinking that things like the Bonzo Dog Band is a must. But "comedy?", and satirical stuff at that (check out the link between Marat/Sade and "We're Normal" ...

 

But there are some areas in music that are linked to progressive music that are not mentioned a whole lot that need more exploration. Check this one out --> Daevid Allen/Kevin Ayers/Alan Ginsberg/Syd Barrett/Mr. Burroughs ... all in the same building at the same time. And Soft Machine goes to do an ABC on a jazz piece! Pure Dali/Bunuel/Bresson idea ... totally spontaneous. Syd's stuff is "psychedelic", when it is much more surrealistic than otherwise. The idea of which is also very good for "interpreting sounds" and "create new music" with it. (Interstellar Overdrive) ...

 

The other scene is not as surrealistic, but just as strong ... you should really check out Werner Herzog, Peter Handke, Peter Weiss, Wim Wenders, Can, Between, Michael Hoenig, Tangerine Dream ... what started as a conceptual free for all, became the best improvisational music ever done ... well, we haven't heard any ragas recorded yet! And they went to film. Surrealism here is disguised some by it's depth and concept ... where the improvisation is, in the end, way more important than the result. And you can not say that Bresson/Dali/Bunuel weren't looking for that! Or discussed is in those terms. Or check out Supersister ...

 

And some of this is disguised as druggy music and what not ... do not forget that element.

 

Please also remember one thing ... the artistic/literary process is far better defined in 1930, because there was no "media" to hel disseminate and trash it and popular music to invade any artistic concept. And in the next 30 to 40 years, this changed big time ... and there are times when a concept these days is almost impossible to define, because the minute you do someone breaks it.

 

We will have to wait for rock music to settle down some more first and hope that commercial music does not kill the history of music as the majority of commercial music is formulaic and only has one or two musical features.

 

In many ways, progressive music is the same way. The definition itself is forcing the music to get formulaic to the point where one of these days we can easily say that all music you and I hear is "mozart'ian" in concept ... are you happy with that?

 

In general, I tend to think that a lot of original artistic processes have its inception in a form of surrealism, INCLUDING surrealism itself! (Hehe!)

 

But there are a lot of artistic folks out there that have experimented and tried a lot of different things. Peter Weiss/Peter Brook/Royal Shakespeare Company exercised with a lot of stuff that probably came from Gurdjieff, and the work "The Mahabharatta" is th eend result of that. Peter Brook also did a film abou thim, called "Meetings with Remarkable Men". Robert Fripp mentions Gurdjieff in passing. Check out a couple of Pasolini films and you see a bunch of French writers in there. Check out Jean Luc Godard's film King Lear and you can see a very surrealistic look at film itself!.

 

These things are not isolated. And music is not isolated either.

 

I recommend not isolating "progressive music" from the world as an entity of its own. Like a child is a product of a man and a woman, so is the majority of art and its implementation.

 

Other listings:

Faust in their first albums were surrealism come to life.

Amon Duul 2 has a serious dose of surrealism in its lyrics that are somewhat evolved from Castaneda, The Doors and Sufi thinking.

 

I imagine that a lot of professors are going to state that too much of this is not important music (too much popular music in the midst!) and has no value because some of it is not famous ... but if you can show that they are incorrect in their assumption and that many artists the world over in music have tried to do a lot of different things, you might get somewhere.

 

Ohhh, for an encore, make sure you play out loud ... Dali is an onionhead!

 

I would NOT ... use the PF/Wizard of Oz thing ... that is one of the stupidest things ever, and was originally a joke that stuck. Specially when the original version of Greatest Gig in the Sky was a whole bunch of priests sermonizing over each other and culminating with Syd Barrett stating "... people have stood, and cheered, something they did not understand!" ... and if I was one of the professors in the seat judging you, I would get up and fail you on the spot!

 

Instead of that ... use "French Windows" or the Gerald Scarfe cartoons used for "The Wall", all of which are almost pure surrealism. "French Windows" was used during the clocks and time stuff. The filming of that stuff is way more surrealistic.

 

You need to show intelligence and detail ... not crap and supposed rumors!

 

Do not fall for gags and commercial jokes! Roger Waters is not a Wizard of Oz kind of guy! That kind of stuff had no meaning for the majority of Europe but is a great fad and thing in America!

 

I think you will have better success if you can link named artists to the work. Gong/Surrealistic/Flying Teapot Trilogy ...

 

Ron Geesin on his solo albums is remarkably surrealistic.

 

Good luck ... you're going to need it!

 

That would be easy ... all we have to do is send Dean a copy of "Our Song" ... I think he will get it real quick and appreciate the humor! And add it to the PA. You and I get to write the reviews. I have 4 of his albums! Right Through is the best of them I think!

 

oh, and maybe even more important thing - I'M NOT THE STUDENT OF MUSIC ACADEMY, only Culture Studies, so in my work, that "listeners" aspect is really important. Cheers.

 

I'll tell you what was a lot more surreal to prog music that few people got to see ... both the London, LA, NY and Paris scenes had their own "crazies" and in Hollywood, the one that got that award was "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" which while not exactly being progressive, the whole thing was actually quite progressive in both presentation and style.  London's crazy area probably started with the Royal Shakespeare Company doing Shakespeare in the middle of a kids playground (Diana Rigg and David Warner), but it may have really had its first glow with Ken Russell having a party in all of his films, usually at the end to blow th ewhole thing apart. So if you didn't get Glenda Jackson going crazy, you got the nuns in Loudon! Paris had its own art scene mostly writers and that cafe culture. NY of course was stuck in the Warhol thing big time. But LA ... was THE trip ... so, I caught 2001,  A Space Odyssey at the old place that had 180 degree screen, and then went next door to catch HAIR at the Aquarius Theater. And then (not supposed to say this here!) ... went down a few blocks to 5th and Hill to catch that one porno that hit really big and is still one of the top midnight movies around ... wonder if they are going to remaster that?

 

Later on, a couple of years, it was Babe Ruth/Iggy and the Stooges (Whiskey A GoGo) on the Sunset Strip, go next door to Tower Records and spend 50 bux on the newest Peter Hammill, or newest Can, or newest Tangerine Dream ... and then walk on up the street to the Roxy and catch Frank Zappa late, or Rocky Horror Picture Show ... I think I saw it twice. Maybe 3 times.

 

Ohhh ... and the following week drove back down because Led Zeppelin was in town ... so, who cares about "progressive" ... it was just a whole lot of massive fun and beautiful music and film! Pink Floyd was a couple of months later and I first saw them at the Hollywood Bowl in August (or September - can't remember!) 1972.

 

See what happens when you have fun in the big city?

 

By the end of the night ... it was enough! But it was a heck of a lot of fun ... and no drugs were necessary.