Genesis of Classic Prog : When did it all begin ?

Er, at the risk of sounding obvious, " From Genesis to Revelation" refined later by "Trespass". Nothing touches them for my own personal awakening to prog 69/70.

flaxton wrote: ian mcdonald had just as much input to itkotck as fripp. maybe he was the one who came upon the idea of progressive rock.

Greg Lake came up with the 21st Century Schizoid Man riff.  All hail Greg Lake, the true inventor of prog!

I like cake

RoyFairbank wrote: Bob Dylan's material in 1965 is earlier than most of what has been discussed and features what I consider quasi-prog elements.

I think we should give The Who at least an honorable mention for things like A Quick One, While He's Away (song), and their concept albums like Sell Out, Tommy and Quadrophenia.

I think the reason that the birth of prog is such a vague topic is that everyone has a different idea of just what defines "birth" in a musical sense.  The first progressive music ever recorded could be practically anything: Beatles, Procol Harum, Zappa, etc.  The first truly progressive album is a little less vague, but still subjective: In the Court of the Crimson King, Piper at the Gates of Dawn, maybe even Sgt. Pepper's.  But the first progressive rock band?  There's the real question.  Crimson?  Floyd? Again, it could be practically anything.

The Nice were very important in the birth of prog rock as we know it. Their first album 'The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack'( 1967) included some very strongly classically linked tracks 'War And Peace' and 'Rondo' where Keith Emerson started his experiments. This line up included the guitarist Davy O'List who found it very hard to live with Emersons lead role in the band plus his growing drugs abuse got himself thrown out the band. (Davy is a nice bloke btw.Met him several years ago and he bore no resentment to Emerson whatsoever). The signifance of this though was that Emerson was able to give even more free reign to his symphonic exploarations and a year later they released 'Ars Longa Vita Brevis'. The Nice were without doubt the most influential band on the British prog scene until King Crimson emerged in 1969 although even after that The Nice ploughed on with further important albums included the strangely under appreciated 'The Five Bridges Suite' 1970. KC had upped the ante and Emerson was to go onto bigger and better things. However in the period 1967-68 The Nice were as important as any in the development of prog.

Edited by richardh - April 17 2010 at 02:49

WalterDigsTunes wrote: December 17th, 1968: It was another dreary morning in Old Blighty. Bobby "Chuckles" Fripp awoke from another insatiable all-night bender with his mates at the Cornish Gypsy pub right around the corner. Bedraggled and slightly scraggly, Bobby clambered out of bed in search for a drink of water. As he lugged his frame forward, visions of a hookah-laced dream crept up from the deep recesses of the mind. The soundtrack involved mellotrons, guitar notes, odd time signatures and that nice paperboy Greg. He was on the cusp of a revelation. Stumbling into the living room, he gleefully clasped Giles and McDonald on their respective shoulders. "Boys," muttered Fripp, "I've got an idea."

yeah, Ian's uncle has money and he'll pay for us to make a real album 

seriously though, as to the OP's question, I think the general consensus is that Crimson's debut was perhaps the first prog album with all of its components in place (including thematic structure), though even that's debatable as this had already occurred in rock in other forms as mentioned in this thread.  The Nice's first two from 1967 & '68 and Five Bridges I haven't seen mentioned, these were crucial LPs and exhibited most of the important Prog elements (the Beach Boy's Smiley Smile in '67 as well).

Another interesting thing about KC's debut is that if you listen to Giles,Giles&Fripp, ItCotCK isn't far from the Brit-psyche/pop they'd been doing, and their truly progressive spark wouldn't get going till subsequent albums





Edited by Atavachron - April 16 2010 at 20:37

December 17th, 1968:

It was another dreary morning in Old Blighty. Bobby "Chuckles" Fripp awoke from another insatiable all-night bender with his mates at the Cornish Gypsy pub right around the corner. Bedraggled and slightly scraggly, Bobby clambered out of bed in search for a drink of water. As he lugged his frame forward, visions of a hookah-laced dream crept up from the deep recesses of the mind. The soundtrack involved mellotrons, guitar notes, odd time signatures and that nice paperboy Greg. He was on the cusp of a revelation. Stumbling into the living room, he gleefully clasped Giles and McDonald on their respective shoulders.

"Boys," muttered Fripp, "I've got an idea."

carlmarx38 wrote:       Looking for a minute at the database for Prog Archives, it becomes clear that nothing much     happened until 1967.  There was "Freak Out" by Zappa in 1966, but in '67 there were several     releases which seem to be essential to the development of "prog as we know it" (whatever that      is) :               DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED (Moody Blues)               PROCOL HARUM (first album)               PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN (Pink Floyd)               ABSOLUTELY FREE

Why is Sgt Pepper's missing from this list?
Robert Fripp has said in interviews that that album encouraged him to go 'progressive'.

I've said this before (I think), but to me it is no coincidence that after the release of ITCOTCK many of the bands that are now considered classic prog (Yes, Genesis, VDGG, GG etc) either got started (GG) or changed direction (the other bands mentioned).
I'm not too familiar with Pink Floyd though, i wouldn't be surprised if such a change would be clearly audible there.