EUROCK - Music and the 2nd Culture // A Review

EUROCK Music & the Second Culture

by Archie Patterson

(with thanks to Archie for some editorial help!)

It's really difficult to figure out what to say about this publication. Not because it is valuable, or anything, it is by far one of the most important encyclopedic studies of what we have come to call "progressive music". It’s also one of the most important studies of the changes that so many countries were involved in (in Europe by the way!), and which a lot of music (and other arts) became associated with that time and their location.

EUROCK was a publication, I believe it still is, but online now, that spends a lot of time asking musicians themselves what is and isn't, and how they feel and what they believe in. As such, since 1973, you will not find a better encyclopedia as to what it took for many folks to create their material, and how it came to be in the first place.

It's difficult, for me, to see, the "fans", in a place like this one, and sometimes completely not be aware or have any conception, of what went into the creation of so much work, that we still revere, and find exciting and a very special moment of listening.

Extremely important is the back-story in so many countries, and how someone like "The Savage Rose", is not even discussed here. Or Heldon/Richard Pinhas, whose efforts and output, in the 1970's and 1980's is downright insane and is, for all intents and purposes, the perfect example of what music experimentation and feeling can do, that most don't do. His interviews discuss his views, and if there is one person that sticks for his beliefs, it's hard to not feel that his music illustrates it all so well, that it would really render him one of the most important artists in France for the century.

There are some really sad moments, when one finds out how fleeting and sometimes frustrating, the life of a musician and artist can be, and the changes that so many bands go through are downright insane. Seeing that it still survives, is really a treat for the invaluable information, and desire that it takes for an artist to stand up and continue, and in a place where "art" is more than just sales. This was/is still the case for a while in Europe, as opposed to America and England. You will find that so much music is out there that you have not even heard yet, just as today ... you and I cannot even compare, only to find that ... we know nothing.

Archie is some ways, is a rebel, and his tastes tend to be towards the freedom for an artist to do as he/she needs to. Unlike a lot of publications, he is/was faithful in following many of these, be they Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, or Robert Jan Stips, or Richard Pinhas. Or, if it matters to you, going so far back to the Russians (wait until you read about the Artemiev's!), Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Holland and of course the big ones, like Germany, Italy, France and Spain.

It's really different checking out the history of these things. And seeing a band like "The Savage Rose" (which I have not heard as yet, btw!) be so savagely treated more than once, is difficult to take, but you know right away what separates an artist that means it, and someone that just creates a song lyric. At least if you did not know, you will now.

Archie is a part of the early days in Southern California, and instrumental in helping a lot of imports (as they were called then!) into a couple of locations, until such a time as he was able to help distribute so much of it, that even I could not afford, much less know which one to choose... I remember vividly, seeing a list for some keyboard artists in Latin and South America, it was 20 or more, and I went ... where do I start? Which one?

Today, we have a chance to hear many of these things before we decide to purchase them. Up until 15 years ago, this was not the case as much, and it made it very difficult to make the good choices, and I tended to be a bit safer, then, since I could not afford as many as I wanted.

This is a massive book, and by the time you read about OSANNA, you will have to re-think a lot of what you know in some of the bands that are considered "progressive" and thought to have started it all, when they really didn't. They were good mind you, but Europe has a history of the arts that goes back 2000 years. While it is not as well known in America, other than the bigger names (how commercial that is -- think about Da Vinci and Michelangelo), there are a lot of artists that stand up, and are visible. Some of them had material and work that was important, even though it did not "sell", and most of these things, still survived and were heard, albeit not for a lot of other international ears.

If you manage to make it to the end, and I did, took me almost 3 months, you will find an incredibly satisfying read, and probably one of the most incredible, although you will have moments like I did ... oh my gosh ... I still have 500 pages of it to go?

If ever there was a reason to matchup and add all this into an encyclopedia of the music we love, stuff like this explains where most of it came from, and how it came to be. It's too easy to think that 3 or 4 bands started it all, when it was, in reality, a movement that spanned a whole continent, and Archie even goes to Latin America, South America and Japan ... I think he forgot to make a stopover in India, but that's OK.

I might have wanted, to have him include the stuff in there from ECM, who was also an important factor in helping many of these different countries with musicians coming together, and sharing their talents. However, I think that if Archie had "No Caipira" in his collection, he might call me and tell me ... you just blew up the Brazilian scene! Music, which had a touch and feel of “jazz”, was huge in Brazil as far back as the 1950's and still stands up to the test of time today as well.

Excellent work, and my applause, for a Wagnerian piece of work ... I think of it as ... it never ends ... it becomes something else. And this is what the best of all of us calls ... MUSIC. It speaks in many tongues, and yet, it is still heard and understood.

EUROCK is a truly fascinating piece of work, and undoubtedly exhausting to put together, I will say outstanding. For me, a European who went to Brazil and then to America (my dad left the political thing in Portugal to pursue his literary dream), I guess I can see and understand after hearing about these different countries and their artists it seems like being with your best friend you have known them all this time. The music makes you cry, laugh, and want to have dinner with them all. If there is one thing an artist appreciates it is ... you knew me about me over there?

YEP!

That is what this book is really about, knowing artists in many countries through their music and their art. I highly recommend it for the serious student of "progressive music".

Pedro Sena (c) 2016 Printed with Permission