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Trollheart's Journey through Prog Rock history

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Logan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 21 2016 at 15:34
The Egg album is my fave from that list, but I also really that Supertramp album (my fave Supertramp album).



That Renaissance album does sound very different to later ones as it was yet to have Annie Haslam as singer and instead had Keith and Jane Relf on vocals.



Edited by Logan - November 21 2016 at 15:35
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 23 2016 at 08:27
So those are the main bands - there were others of course, but I have chosen not to feature every one of them - that got together this year although most if not all of them would not have an album released for at least another year. As for the albums we're going to look at for 1969...

From Genesis to Revelation - Genesis


If I followed my own rules then this should not be featured at all, as although it was Genesis's first album, it was far from being a progressive rock one. It's certainly more in the gentle folk area, and what's more, it doesn't even feature Steve Hackett or Phil Collins. But then again, it was the first anyone had heard from Genesis, so, like they say, suck it.Wink


Uncle Meat --- The Mothers of Invention


Frank Zappa, isn't it enough that you haunt my dreams, skulking through my sleeping hours like some sort of spectral bogeyman waiting to assault my ears with nonsense and atonal sounds? Must I listen to an album of yours every year? It seems I must. This was another strand of the “No Commercial Potential” project Zappa created, of which we've heard already We're Only in it For the Money.


On the Threshold of a Dream - The Moody Blues


Another concept album from a band who were fast becoming one of the flag-bearers for the emerging progressive rock movement, this was the album that lifted the Moody Blues into the heady heights of number one position for their album, and into the top twenty cross the pond, though its only single failed to create even a ripple (geddit?)...


Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band


If there's one artiste I look forward to listening to less than Merzbow, it's this. I've already suffred through it once, but not here, so I'll have to take another crack at it. Brr! Anyway, supposedly a very influential album on the genre, and surely a lot of business to analysts and therapists years later.


Yes - Yes


Not to be confused with The Yes Album, this was the debut from a band who would go on not only to define progressive rock, but the more bloated excesses of it.


Abbey Road - The Beatles


I have my doubts about this one. I know it's seen as a seminal Beatles album with an iconic cover, but did it impact upon the prog rock scene? I'll leave it here for now, and await the judgement of those of you who can answer this question better than I.


The Nice - The Nice


Third album from The Nice. I'm not too certain about this one either; was it important? Have we heard all we need to of Keith Emerson's first band?


Volume Two (The Soft Machine Album) - Soft Machine


Second album from Soft Machine.


The Aerosol Grey Machine - Van der Graaf Generator


Debut album from Van der Graaf Generator


In the court of the Crimson King - King Crimson


An album that would go on to have a profound effect on prog rock, introduce the world properly to the genius of Robert Fripp, and become a classic of the genre, how could we not feature King Crimson's seminal debut?


Hot rats - Frank Zappa


Just can't get away from this guy, can I?


Ummagumma - Pink Floyd


Double album by a band who would go on to become one of the most important in the genre. Half of it is live, while the rest is made up of solo work from each band member. In case anyone's wondering, I've left out More as it's a film soundtrack and I don't think needs to be visited. If I'm wrong, please let me know.


To our children's children's children - The Moody Blues


Yes, they had two albums released this year. We'll be taking a look at both.


Renaissance - Renaissance


One of the only bands formed this year to put out an album that same year, this is the debut album from Renaissance.


Phallus Dei - Amon Duul II


Often cited as the first real Krautrock album, this was the debut album from Amon Duul II.


When I began this journal I admitted I mentioned it was, and is, a work in progress, and will be for a long time. The format is more or less generally set, but I can and will add to and change it as I see fit, or as ideas occur to me. An idea just occurred to me. As you can see, the amount of albums released by 1969 far outstrips those released in the previous year, and as we move into the seventies and beyond this will only increase. While not every one of them is important, essential or even relvant to the progressive rock movement, I'm trying to cover all those that are. But there are others that, while they bear no real importance, are still worth listening to and talking about. These I'll be looking at in two separate sections, titles yet to be decided but possibly “ProgWorthy”, “On the Fringes” or “We are not Worthy!”, which will feature albums that deserve not to be ignored, but are outside the main thrust of the journal, and something I may call “A bit of fun” or something similar, which will be albums that are, basically, just fun to listen to. Within those banners, these are the ones from 1969 that I intend to feature.


Liege and Lief - Fairport Convention


Said to be the first British folk rock album. We'll see.


Brainbox - Brainbox


An album that came with a serious warning about causing serious psychological damage if listened to? How could we not grasp that nettle?


Catherine Ribeiro + 2 Bis - Catherine Ribeiro


Must listen to this, if only because its title gives the impression it was recorded with two lesbians!


Dracula's Music Cabinet - The Vampires of Dartmoore


I've heard so much about this I have to take the opportunity to review it! Wink


It's a beautiful day - It's a beautiful day


Because why not?


So that's our list for 1969. Obviously, there's a whole lot to get through so this is going to take a lot longer than 1968 did. I'll begin reviewing albums soon, as we move into the realm of what I would term more actual prog albums than just ones that influenced the genre. And Zappa.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 23 2016 at 09:39

Note: obviously, I'll be writing lengthy articles on the bigger bands in the genre, Genesis being among them, but to be fair I'll wait till about the mid-seventies or later, so that by then we'll have listened to and reviewed most of their at least better known albums.


Album title: From Genesis to Revelation

Artiste: Genesis

Nationality: British

Label: Decca

Year: 1969

Grade: A

Previous Experience of this Artiste: Total; Genesis are/were my favourite band. I have all their albums.

The Trollheart Factor: 10

Landmark value: One of the major driving forces in progressive rock, Genesis became a byword not only for lengthy and deep songs, weird stageshows with odd costumes, but light shows and effects, as Peter Gabriel had always been interested in stagecraft and showmanship. Although their sound evolved through the decades, up to the time of their disbanding - and since - they have remained one the darlings of the prog rock movement and one of the first names one thinks of when speaking of prog rock.

Track Listing: Where the sour turns to sweet/ In the Beginning/ Fireside song/ The Serpent/ Am I very wrong?/ In the wilderness/ The Conqueror/ In hiding/ One day/ Window/ Limbo/ Silent sun/ A place to call my own

Comments: I only got to hear this album long after I had devoured most of Genesis's discography up to about Abacab, and to say I was disappointed is an understatement. What I didn't understand of course at that time was that the band were still finding their feet, honing their sound, learning to play with one another and more to the point, the movement which would be known as progressive rock was only very embryonic at that stage, so there wasn't a lot for them to emulate or even influence. Even one of Peter Gabriel's later heroes, Peter Hammill of Van der Graaf Generator, had yet to come onto the scene. Add to that the fact that they were all still at school at the time of recording, most of them being only seventeen years old while Anthony Phillips was a mere sixteen, and that both the names Genesis and Revelation were taken by other bands, that they were under the strict, almost dictatorial control of Jonathan King, and you can see how they wouldn't exactly have been on fire with enthusiasm for their debut album.


A note on the back of the CD cover sighs, in a typically what-can-you-do apologetic English way, “We were Genesis, then we learned there was a band with that name, so we changed our name to Revelation, only to find that name was also taken. Now we are the band with no name, but we still wish you to enjoy our music”. That's not an exact quote - I looked for the CD but can't find it - but it's close enough. It does, however, allow you to see that this is hardly going to be the kind of band, should it last, that will sing about rockin' all night and dirty women! Far more esoteric and genteel subjects would colour Genesis's lyrics, making them a target for ridicule and leading to accusations of snobbery, some of which may have been justified.


But if there's one word that characterises all of the music here it's gentle. There are none of what would later become Peter Gabriel's trademark snarl (copied mostly from Hammill) or the sarcasm that would drip from titles on their next album, their first progressive one. If this album belongs anywhere, it's with the like of The Byrds and Simon and Garfunkel and Gordon Lightfoot: soft, inoffensive, restrained music with a very poppy tilt. And yet, there are certainly pointers towards the kind of music Genesis would compose in later years, in tracks like “Fireside song”, “In the wilderness” and “One day”.


Pastoral is another word that fits the album, and it's a style that would continue through at least their early albums, although the opener is perhaps a little more in-your-face and uptempo than most of the rest of the album, with a sort of psychedelic/blues feel to it and Gabriel's distinctive vocal shines right away and grabs your attention, even at the tender age of seventeen. Given how Genesis would become known for long, convoluted and epic songs, this album has none over five minutes, with most coming in around the three or four-minute mark. That spacey, psychedelic feel continues through to the next track, “in the beginning”. You know, Wiki tells me that Jonathan King had the band record an album based loosely around the Bible, but I don't see it here. Sure, the odd track, one called “The Serpent”, “In Limbo”, could be seen to refer to the Bible, but it's nowhere near a concept album based around the Holy Book. The themes are varied, mostly concentrating on nature, man's need for conflict, and women.


The first real standout comes in the gentle “Fireside song”, where for the first time you can hear the band come together and really write what could be called a proper song that could have been heard on the radio, though of course it was not released as a single. Soft, comfortable, safe, it's the perfect title for the song, and slides in on a lovely piano line from Tony Banks, taken up by Rutherford on the acoustic guitar as the song gets going. The first time I really sat up and took notice of this album when I initially listened to it. The strings accompaniment really helps too. “The Serpent” has a much bluesier, hard rock vibe to it, not one of my favourites, some good organ work certainly, then “Am I very wrong?” is quite gentle but has a hard piano line to it, sort of reminds me of some of Nick Cave's later work. The next great standout is “In the wilderness”, with a great hook in the chorus and a strong vocal from Gabriel, presaging the kind of presence he would create on later albums.


“The Conqueror” is okay I guess, but it's nothing special. “In hiding” is nice, has a kind of jangly rhythm to it but very rooted in the sixties for sure. Another great song is “One day”, which, while naive to the max is still very endearing with its tale of the man living in the forest and hoping to bring his lover to live there with him. It's driven on a rippling piano line from Tony Banks, and powerful percussion from John Silver. “Window” is a gentle little ballad with a very low-key vocal from Gabriel, while there are horns and a sort of Beach Boys vocal harmony to “In Limbo”, but the song chosen as their only single (which flopped of course) is just very pedestrian and you can see how King was trying to make them into a pop group, something they were at the time very much not suited for. The short closer is very nice, and bookends the album well.



Favourite track(s): Fireside song, One day, In the wilderness, Window, A place to call my own/

Least favourite track(s): The Serpent, Silent sun

Overall impression: Were this the first time I was hearing Genesis I would have thought they probably had no real future. There's little on this album that really stands out or marks this band as being destined to lead the progressive rock revolution, but then in fairness a lot of that is down to the almost iron grip Jonathan King exerted over the band, and once they parted company with him they were free to explore their own, more intricate and daring compositions, and a legend was born. But apart from diehard Genesis fans like me, and completists and collectors, you can get by without having to listen to this album at all.

Personal Rating:


Legacy Rating:


Final Rating:



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote resurrection Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2017 at 06:40
Using albums solely as the arbiter of what happened is being on the wrong 'track'. As was mentioned already, many of the important bands did not record till later, though their influence and prior impact was considerable. Both Will Romano, Bruce Thomas (of the Attractions) and many others have pointed out that the proper place to begin is with 1-2-3/Clouds. To quote Bruce Thomas, "Without Clouds, there would be no Yes, ELP, or King Crimson". Sky TV's recent documentary "Trailblazers" researched the subject and came to the same conclusion.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 09 2020 at 14:38

After three years in the wilderness, battling balrogs and orcs and social security inspectors, I have returned!
And I bring with me a burning - OW! Stupid torch! Where was I? Oh yeah: a burning determination to get this history back on track. 

Chances are many of you who read, and commented here in 2017 are no longer around, but anyone who is interested
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 10 2020 at 10:56
Album title: Uncle Meat
Artiste: Frank Zappa
Nationality: American
Label: Bizarre/Reprise
Year: 1969
Grade: B
Previous Experience of this Artiste: Note: once I've done an artiste once already I'm going to omit this category, as I've already revealed my experience of the artiste in the first one, and there's no point repeating myself. I'll repeat that: there's no point in repeating myself.
The Trollheart Factor: 2
Landmark value: Seems the album was highly praised for its innovation in recording techniques, overdubs and mastering. Also one of the earlier prog or proto-prog albums to follow a science-fiction storyline, to say nothing of being, apparently, the soundtrack to a movie that never got made. According to the man: "It's all one album. All the material in the albums is organically related and if I had all the master tapes and I could take a razor blade and cut them apart and put it together again in a different order it still would make one piece of music you can listen to. Then I could take that razor blade and cut it apart and reassemble it a different way, and it still would make sense. I could do this twenty ways. The material is definitely related.” If you say so, Frankie.
Track Listing: Uncle Meat: Main title theme/ The voice of cheese/ Nine types of industrial pollution/ Zolar Czakl/ Dog breath, in the year of the plague/ The legend of the golden arches/ Louie Louie/ The Dogbreath variations/ Sleeping in a jar/ Our bizarre relationship/ The Uncle Meat variations/ Electric Aunt Jemima/ Prelude to King Kong/ God bless America/ A pound for a brown on the bus/ Ian Underwood whips it out / Mr Green Genes/ We can shoot you/ If we'd all been living in California.../ The air/ Project X/ Cruising for burgers/ King Kong itself (as played by The Mothers in a studio)/ King Kong (Its magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild)/ King Kong (as Motorhead explains it) / King Kong (The Gardner varieties)/ King Kong (As played by 3 deranged Good Humor trucks)/ King Kong (Live on a flat bed diesel in the middle of a race track at  Miami Pop Festival ... the Underwood ramifications)
Comments: Jesus on a pogo stick! Even writing out the track listing has exhausted me! And I haven't even begun listening to the music yet! How is it that side four is taken up with six (count 'em) versions of the one song? Oh yeah, I forgot: it's Zappa! :rolleyes: Well, let's sidle up to the door and push it gingerly open with this ten-foot bargepole I just happen to have ....

Interesting kind of sound, sort of xylophone-y, not too bad at all, quite quick and while not frenetic very bouncy. I see there is a xylophone credited, so maybe that's exactly what it is. Who knows? Some typical Zappa weirdness at the end, just in case we forgot who we were listening to, then “The Voice of Cheese” introduces us to, apparently, a major recurring character in Zappaland, Suzy Creamcheese, but she's just talking and I couldn't care less. Instrumental mayhem then for “Nine Types of Industrial Pollution”, which to be fair is mostly run on guitar, could be classical, maybe, not sure. Very expressive. Percussion is a bit haphazard, I'm sure it's meant to be. Quite distracting though. Six minutes of this. Could be worse I guess. Actually most of the tracks (and there are a total of twenty-eight of them) are short, many under a minute or just over, so thank god for small mercies. Not too bad so far though I must admit. I'm sure it'll get much weirder soon enough. 

One of those short tracks is up next, less than a minute and very close to something Waits would later develop, with a little hint of echoes from the future on Genesis's “The Colony of Slippermen” before it's into a kind of slow soul/jazzy groove with salsa or some sort of Latin American overtones for “Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague”, another almost six-minuter, and the first so far with lyrics. Operatic singing, Mariachi, semi-Beach Boys, it's all there. “The Legend of the Golden Arches” sounds kind of like a carnival, pretty upbeat and again you can see where Waits would get his ideas for instrumentals like “Dave the Butcher”. This is an instrumental too, apart from another spoken bit by I guess Suzy. Live now for “Louie Louie”, which seems to be just some sort of idea of the lads larking about with a tuba. Yeah. “The Dogbreath Variations” closes out side one, nice strummed acoustic guitar and some warbly keyboard. Not bad. Not bad at all. More xylo too, which is pretty cool. Even get a kind of solo from the thing. Never heard that before.

Side two opens on “Sleeping in a Jar”, another piece which runs for less than a minute and is quite nice with a sort of almost proggish feel to it, maybe the first time I've heard Z do prog or come close enough that I could recognise it as such. Suzy's back (she's really starting to annoy me I must say) and talking her way through the next track, which takes us on to “The Uncle Meat Variations”, which really must have had Waits scribbling feverishly as he listened. Another instrumental, I think? Some nice accordion and organ with maybe vibes or that xylo again. I like this I must say. Oh wait, some sort of Japanese singing or something is cutting in, kind of ruining it for me. Well, I can't say I'm surprised; the big Z seems to hate being in one groove for anything more than a few minutes. Good guitar solo kind of makes up for it though. “Electric Aunt Jemima” is some sort of Everly Brothers style ballad, with suitably silly voices, while “Prelude to King Kong” is probably well named, as, as I mentioned, there are no less than SIX versions of the song on the album, and in fact they all take up the fourth side. This one is like some sort of polka or something, dashing along on horns and muted percussion, sort of like a military charge. 

We're live again next for the patriotic “God Bless America”, possibly played on the kazoo, with much enthusiastic if not rhythmic banging on drums, followed by a short little instrumental and then the interestingly-titled “Ian Underwood Whips it Out”. Indeed. Starts off with a spoken introduction by the man in the title, explaining how he joined The Mothers, then an annoyingly jazzesque screech on the sax I guess it is. This, to my not inconsiderable horror, goes on for just over five minutes.  And so side two ends, and we're halfway there. Sanity check. Seem still to be able to interact with the world at large. Not so bad. 

Side three opens with “Mr Green Genes”, slow kind of marching tune on tuba I think with more vocals, not just talking this time. Not bad, even if the lyric is silly. Nice organ line underpinning the tune. Xylophone takes us into “We Can Shoot You”, a lot of random percussion effects, also flute, slide whistle, you name it. Another round of talking then (seems like the band arguing with the Big Z about how little they're working and getting paid) then another fifties doo-wop style ballad for “The Air” before we head into “Project X”, pretty spacey, quite Twilight Zone-ish, very weird. Need I add it too is an instrumental? It, too, is an instrumental. Finally, “Cruising for Burgers” takes us to the end of side three, with what at first fools me into thinking he's singing a cover of “White Christmas” but quickly settles (!) into a cross between a soft ballad and some pretty wild, off-base drumming, making the whole thing very hard on my aged ears. At least it's short.

Side four, as I mentioned, is six versions of the song “King Kong”, and as they all have ridiculously long and nonsensical subtitles I ain't gonna write them all out again, refer to the track listing if you need to. Here, they're just gonna be numbered. So, “King Kong I” is a mere fifty-odd seconds long and is a nifty little instrumental which in particular gives the bass a chance to shine, with some really nice organ. Quite funky. Brother. KKII is also short, seguing directly in from the previous track, and not surprisingly the very same melody, though the sax or trumpet seems to have taken over here. Bit too much of that oft-feared subgenre for me, freeform jazz. Yuck. KK III is... already halfway through. Didn't hear the changeover, I must admit, and it's not that surprising as they're very similar, almost identical. And now we're into KK IV, which again has just transitioned over without any change or gap. This one however is over six minutes long. Don't see the point in all this, I have to admit. Still, nearly there. The final part is seven minutes though! Before that there's a brief few seconds of KK V (apparently supposed to be ice cream vans. Hmm) before we end on KK VI, not only the longest of the sextet but the longest track on the album at almost seven and a half minutes. I can see the finish line though. Just hold out for another four hundred-odd seconds and we're done. Okay, this version is possibly the most coherent of them all, sort of marching beat with nice organ and even the wild horns don't scare me off. That much.

Favourite track(s): Uncle Meat: Main title theme, Dogbreath, in the year of the plague, The legend of the golden arches, Dogbreath variations, Sleeping in a jar, Mr Green Genes, The Air
Least favourite track(s): Pretty much everything else, especially the spoken word ones and doubly so for any with Suzy fucking Creamcheese on them. 
Overall impression: Weird yes, but perhaps not as consistently weird as I had feared. Some nice, even accessible tracks amid all the insanity. Certainly individual: no way this could be anyone other than Zappa, or maybe his protege, Beefheart. Not something I would listen to again for pleasure though. Hey, at least it's not TMR! Not looking forward to revisiting that!
Personal Rating: 2.0
Legacy Rating: 4.0
Final Rating: 3.0


Edited by Trollheart - October 10 2020 at 12:15
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 10 2020 at 13:11
Album title: On the Threshold of a Dream
Artiste: The Moody Blues
Nationality: British
Label: Deram
Year: 1969
Grade: A
Landmark value: Another concept album, making the Moodies perhaps the first band to release three different concept albums in a row, this gave them their first experience of the number one slot and also broke them in the  USA. Oddly, for such a successful album, it had no hit singles. Not a one. This album should not be confused with the classic from The Mad Scot, On the Threshold of a Dram. Sorry. ;)
Track Listing: In the beginning/ Lovely to see you/ Dear diary/ Send me no wine/ To share our love/ So deep within you/ Never comes the day/ Lazy day/ Are you sitting comfortably?/ The dream/ Have you heard (part 1)/ The voyage/ Have you heard (part 2)
Comments: The concept for the first (real) album was a single day, the second travelling. This third one concentrates on the world of dreams, so it's no surprise that there's a dark, atmospheric synth lead in, then a spoken piece before some jarring effects which eventually takes off into a very late-sixties rock tune, uptempo and bouncy as we move into “Lovely to See You”, one of only three tracks on which Justin Hayward takes lead vocals. Nice, but nothing terribly special and certainly nothing proggy, not to me. Early days yet though, or to put it in the context of the album, the dream has but begun. More laidback and bluesy for “Dear Diary”, which has echoes of early ELO: guess Lynne and Wood listened to the Moodies then! Ambles along nicely, sort of like someone taking a leisurely stroll at night through the backstreets of the city. Some nice phased vocals (were there vocoders this early?) with some nice flute from Ray Thomas. Much better, though again not a prog rock song. Almost Country then for “Send Me No Wine”, more uptempo, then Pinder handles vocals for the next two tracks. The first, “To Share Your Love” is again uptempo pop/rock, not bad but where the hell are the Hammonds and the Mellotrons, huh? I'm also not crazy about his rather more raw vocal style, preferring Hayward's more gentle, mellifluous one. The other track is “So Deep Within You” (ooer!) and it's a total Pinderfest, as he both wrote and sings the song. It's pretty terrible, almost a foray into funk, or disco at least. Urgh. Even the flute doesn't help. Kind of reminds me, in terms of incongruity, of “Waiting For Your Love” on Toto IV. If that means nothing to you, I can't help you.

Thankfully Hayward is back to save the day with a lovely little ballad that kicks off side two, as “Never Comes the Day” re-establishes order with some beautiful cello from John Lodge and a soaring, aching vocal from my favourite Moody, who unsurprisingly also wrote this ballad. and was in fact the only single released from the album (I can see why) which completely flopped sadly. Love the harmonica in it too. Ah, and there's the Mellotron! Finally! The first song I enjoyed on this album was the Ray-Thomas penned and sung “Dear Diary”, so I have high hopes for “Lazy Day”, his only other contribution, and I'm not disappointed, though it's certainly Beatlesesque. It has a nice finger-clicking breezy rhythm about it, then morphs into the closest I have yet heard to prog on this album, though it goes back to the original rhythm. Nice use of harmonica again, and more cello. The vocal harmonies are good too.

Hayward returns for the final time, collaborating with Thomas on “Are You Sitting Comfortably?”, and perhaps predictably it's another ballad, with a really nice bassline and some horns, soft piano, very relaxing. This then takes us into what I believe is known as “The Voyage Suite”, kicking off with “The Dream”, in which Mike Pinder narrates (it's barely a minute long) and references the album's title, and then the first of two parts of “Have You Heard” opens with a nice acoustic guitar ballad, Pinder running the show now as he wrote and also sings the last three tracks. Well, the penultimate one is an instrumental, showing not only what the Moodies could do but their love of classical music as they rearrange Strauss on “Also Spake Zarathustra” (if you're not familiar with the piece, you'd know it as the music that opens the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey) for “The Voyage”, the second-longest track on the album at just  under four minutes, before things wrap up with “Have You Heard (Part 2)” which basically reprises the first part.

Favourite track(s): Dear Diary, Never comes the day, Lazy day, Are you sitting comfortably? Have you heard (part 1)
Least favourite track(s): So deep within you
Overall impression: Generally I'd have to say side two is better than side one, but while parts of the album show proggy touches, especially the instrumental “The Voyage”, and notwithstanding the proggy title, I am a little disappointed that this album is rather more removed from the precepts of prog than their previous two outings. Good, but more a rock album than a prog rock one.
Personal Rating: 3.0 
Legacy Rating: 5.0 
Final Rating:4.0 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 10 2020 at 13:14
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Trollheart: as Irish as losing a 3-0 lead in a must-win fixture!
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Location: Dublin, Ireland
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Points: 122
Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Trollheart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 10 2020 at 13:49
Album title: Trout Mask Replica
Artiste:  Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Nationality:  American
Label: Straight/Reprise
Year: 1969
Grade: B
Landmark value: One of the most important albums in the field of experimental music and art rock (it says here) Trout Mask Replica failed to set the world alight when it was released, completely flopping (like a trout on the riverbank. Sorry) but as is often the case, history has apparently recognised its importance and the mad genius that was Don Van Vliet, and today it is revered as one of the founding albums of out-there music. I would probably have to agree, despite my own feelings about it.
Track Listing: Frownland/ The dust blows forward 'n the dust blows back/ Dachau blues/ Ella Guru/ Hair Pie: Bake 1/ Moonlight on Vermont/ Pachuco cadaver/ Bills corpse/ Sweet sweet bulbs/ Neon meate dream of a octafish/ China pig/ My human gets me blues/ Dali's car/ Hair Pie: Bake 2/ Pena/ Well/ When Big Joan sets up/ Fallin' ditch/ Sugar 'n' spikes/ Ant man bee/ Orange claw hammer/ Wild life/ She's too much for my mirror/ Hobo chang ba/ The blimp (mousetrapreplica)/ Steal softly thru snow/ Old fart at play/ Veterans Day poppy
Comments: Oh boy! I'll try to keep my own negative view of this out of it, but don't blame me if I begin ranting. Anyway, this is the second time I'll have to suffer through this so seconds out, round two! No hitting below the belt, let's have a good clean fight. Place yer bets! And so we're off with a kind of rock song with what sounds to me to be most of the instruments playing independently of each other, very confusing, with Beefheart's growl over the whole thing. Next up is what sounds like some sort of folk song sung acapella, while “Dachau Blues” is I guess basically a Delta blues style song with sharp guitar. I can certainly see where Tom Waits would develop his sound listening to this. Track's not too bad to be fair. “Ella Guru” has that hard sharp guitar again, and now it sounds like someone is slowly strangling a violin to death for five minutes. “Moonlight on Vermont” does at least bring some music back into the frame, and we're at the end of side one.

Death seems to haunt the first two tracks, with “Pachucho Cadaver” kicking things off with a rather catchy rhythm, not a bad song to be fair. Could do without the squeaky horn, but that's just me. Continuing on the same theme them we get “Bills Corpse” (it's spelled without the apostrophe, so, you know...) which is a short, manic track leading into “Sweet Sweet Bulbs” which is a nice boppy blues style tune. You know, it's odd, but listening to this I've realised just how much Waits ripped off Beefheart's style. I used to think he was unique, but from the time he started emulating the Captain (around the time of Heartattack and Vine, certainly in full flight by Swordfishtrombones, which even shows Beefheart's penchant for running words together) he really just became a copy of him. Sobering thought. Back to the album though.

I have absolutely no idea what “Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish” is meant to be, but what else is new? At best I guess it's an exercise in expressionism or art gone mad. “China Pig” has that Delta blues stripped-down feel, “My Human Gets Me Blues” is a rocky madcap tune, and one minute of hard banging guitar ends side two, bringing us into “Hair Pie: Bake 2” which is at least a whole lot more tuneful than “Hair Pie: Bake 1” on the first side. “Pena” is mostly speech, particularly manic speech near the end, sounds female, but may not be. “Well” is another short track, just over two minutes with an acapella rendering of what sounds like a folk song, then “When Big Joan Sets Up” is the longest song on the album at just over five minutes, another madcap rocker. I've nothing to say about “Fallin' Ditch”, but “Sugar 'n Spikes” hops along nicely, and “Ant Man Bee” takes us three-quarters of the way through the album.

Another acapella folk song-thing to open side four with “Orange Claw Hammer”, “Wild Life” brings back the guitar (Jesus! Even Waits's guitar player sounds like this!) as does “She's Too Much For My Mirror” and well, it ran into the next track without me noticing. Now he's shouting about “The Blimp!” (which I find really annoying) before we get to “Steal Softly Through Snow” which kind of continues the ideas explored in “Wild Life” and “She's Too Much for My Mirror” as we head towards the end of the album. “Old Fart at Play” is mostly spoken against a jangly guitar which is pretty good to be honest, and we end on another long track, four and a half minutes of a bluesy “Veterans Day Poppy”. Well, kind of bluesy. In parts. Hey, it's Beefheart! Leave me alone!
Favourite track(s): Dachau blues, Moonlight on Vermont, Sweet sweet bulbs
Least favourite track(s): Pretty much everything else
Overall impression: Second time in, not as bad as I remembered, but still not an album I would listen to for pleasure, nor one I expect ever to listen to again. Not, to be fair, what I would consider in any way part of the progressive rock movement; certainly I can see his influence on art rock, experimental music and avant-garde, but prog? Don't see it. Might as well call Tom Waits a progressive rock icon. Nevertheless, given that so many musicians in all fields cite this album, and the place it occupies in rock history, it has to get the top Legacy rating, even if my own is a lot more modest and represents my personal view of the album.
Personal Rating: 3.0 
Legacy Rating: 5.0 
Final Rating: 4.0 
Trollheart: as Irish as losing a 3-0 lead in a must-win fixture!
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