In the Mood for Prog

Hi,

"Prog/Progressive" is an illusion that we have created. FOR ME, ANY MUSIC is not an ILLUSION, but a REALITY ... that is, it is about that person or persons, and what they bring in to add to the dinner table, so to speak.

While I can appreciate the good will in your endeavor, it reminds me of two books that have been around a long time ... PETER MICHAEL HAMEL had a book (From Music To The Self) that is a really difficult read for most of us, since he goes through a lot of African and Eastern music, as if it was his playground ... something that we have a hard time doing since we are not musically free from the more mechanical Westernized styles. The other was a book by a writer named NEVIL DRURY who was better known for some writings on Magic and some other bits like Castaneda ... and his book on music was actually a nice attempt, although I think that his listening habits were not as well defined as they could be, or perhaps by that time I knew a lot more music than he did when he wrote the book. Thus the book sounds weak, and missing much better material for meditation, and material to augment the Tarot Cards which he makes an attempt at.

The only thing "missing" about music, is the artistic attempt to help "define" the work ... something that is very visible in theater, and literature, and almost completely ignored in music (specially pop and progressive) and then most of the art in the art world, that still tries to glorify the rose and the onion not to mention the soup can. Both of these "refuse" to delve into deeper matters and make serious attempts at developing and understanding what they do ... beyond some "secret" they have. THERE ARE NO SECRETS (Peter Brook-Theater and Daevid Allen-Gong) ... and instead we find folks that sometimes just need to let you know ... I don't know, when it starts it just all goes like that ... and I'm OK with that, believe or not, but that is not the case since a lot of the lyrics in most prog/progressive is basically poor and not well defined and designed beyond making sure that guitar gets that extra note, and the drummer drops that snare drum louder in your ear!

While you might not read all this, now you know the meaning of "prog/progressive" in my mind ... it is the "elevation" of the music to the level of an ART ... not just another song to (supposedly) enjoy while smoking a cigar and having a beer ... oh what the heck, that's good too, but TFTO wouldn't fit very well here for me!