Progressive Rock songs with odd time signatures?

So I was listening to Dave Brubeck’s Time Out to learn more about time signatures since it would help me with theory. I noticed that all of the songs had odd times with the exception of Strange Meadow Lark.
Then I heard Larks Tongues In Aspic to look for signatures, and can only find odd ones at the end of Easy Money(7/8 or 3/4 perhaps) and the two parts of the title track where I can find all kinds of signatures like 5/4 and 7/8 during riffs.
Sound Chaser by Yes’s main riff is in 5/4

Maybe the signatures are up to own interpretation?

As I understand it, time sigs are often counted differently in classical music than in rock or jazz music. It's not a rule, and the method by which an individual chooses to count time sigs is somewhat 'flexible'

A recurring characteristic of most prog rock is obviously odd time signatures.

Taking Genesis as an example; Turn it on Again is often counted as 13/4, which is correct if you base the count on the full length of the piano riff, but even the band disputed what time sig it was in. Rutherford counting it simply as 2 bars of 4/4 followed by one bar of 5/4, and Collins choosing to count it as 13/4.

Also Golden Brown by The Stranglers has the feel of a waltz, and yet the phrase concludes with one bar of 4/4 at the end, so is it counted as 13/4 or 3 x 3/4 followed by 1 x 4/4.

Tubular Bells - IIRC - starts with alternating bars of 5/4 and 7/4, equating to 12/4 ?? EDIT: A Google search says the time sig is 15/4 for TB, but even so it could be expressed bar by bar. Ultimately it's in the time signature that the artist intended it to be in. IMO.

Who knows..?



Edited by Blacksword - August 24 2022 at 06:20

Yeah, basically if you try and dance to it, and it trips you up and puts you off the beat, it's in an odd time signature. Count the beats until you trip up!

Necrotica wrote: Blacksword wrote: Taking Genesis as an example; Turn it on Again is often counted as 13/4, which is correct if you base the count on the full length of the piano riff, but even the band disputed what time sig it was in. Rutherford counting it simply as 2 bars of 4/4 followed by one bar of 5/4, and Collins choosing to count it as 13/4. Freewill by Rush is much the same way. Are we supposed to count it as two measures of 6/4 and 7/4 respectively, or do we count it as one big 13/4 motif? I personally choose the latter, but I can see how people split it up as well

I tend to count Freewill as 13/4 too.

I will contemplate this important topic as the Pied Piper takes his children underground to the throbbing rhythm of Apocalypse in 9/8.

Edited by RockHound - August 24 2022 at 10:54

Autopsy: a very unconventional song from Fairport Convention, beginning in 5/4 time before transposing to 4/4 time in the middle section and then reverting back to 5/4 time again by way of a few bars of 6/8 time. Confused? You will be. This sounds more like Fotheringport Confusion to me, but it is rather good. 

Just watched the making of DSOTM. Waters mentioned that alternating between 5/4 for the verses and 4/4 for the guitar solos made Gilmour’s solo totally rock.

Skipped or added beats are a signature of prog, classical, and jazz.

All genres, including prog, use conventional time signatures like4/4 and 3/4. Odd and compound signatures, however, can add a sense of distinction and artistic flair and reveal the heart and sophistication of a composer.

Hercules wrote: I have absolutely no understanding of music theory whatsoever. It's like a foreign language I simply cannot understand, no matter how hard I try. I just can't work out time signatures. My son, who is a musician, tries to explain it to me and simply cannot understand how I can handle complex physics concepts yet be so pathetically unable to work out even the simplest time signatures.

I always use this video when odd time signatures are required. Someone already has handily indicated the numerous time changes that fill this composition, so I don't have to. Thus, I anoint the blessed annotator.