I just stumbled upon this book also.  It is definitely worth purchasing. 

After years of listening to (and reading about) Prog Rock, 

this is my first exposure to Billy Ritchie and 1-2-3/Clouds. 

If the information (and opinions) provided by the author is remotely accurate, 

then it sure does seem like Billy Ritchie ushered in the Symph Prog keyboard era. 

He certainly had a great deal to do with it, as David Bowie (and recently Jon Anderson) have said. But beyond that, this is an excellent book. I would however, suggest reading it in a 'pick and mix' fashion, rather than cover to cover. There are so many interesting angles and stories, better read that way than trying to approach it as a chronological tale.

This looks like an excellent book.  It's great now with modern publishing that gifted authors can get their work out there in a solid form instead of just relying on various magazines strewn across time and distance

As I've mentioned elsewhere on the site recently, I enjoy the discussion of Proto-Prog.  I don't really like giving opinions of people's music that much because it's always personal and subjective.  It's the price one pays for being an artist: not everyone is going to like your music.  It's kind of tough, people decide in the end who is really gifted and who isn't.  

While it's undoubted that Ritchie had something to do with the speed in which Prog started and where, I think Prog needed a lot of other people to take off.  When you listen to how good the Nice, Yes and others are in those early days, it's really like apples and oranges....there are other Proto-Prog bands that were of the same quality as the Nice, and you can listen to their music a lot and it doesn't sound bad as it ages.   Different people will champion different bands and have their champion Proto-Prog bands.  I've seen the debates before on here with this subject matter.  My point if you don't like Clouds, it's not some kind of sin. A lot of their music is blues based from what I've heard.  Real Prog was able to introduce classical modes into rock, and even so-called Proto-Prog did that in an amazing way.  Witness the Baroque pop bands, even the big hit A Lovers Concerto from 1965, which I believe was in the top five in the UK. 

    "It is the work that went on before any records were recorded, especially when the band were known as 1-2-3 in their pre Clouds days, that indicated that an iconoclastic musical form was emerging.

 

I believe that only one track, hastily recorded on a tape machine by an audience member even exists of 1-2-3 in action. They did not record and even when they later recorded as 'Clouds', they were best known as a live band.

 

I saw a few performances of the band in their 1-2-3 and later Clouds identities, and believe me that the audiences who were musically quite well informed in those days were split in their opinions. Some were amazed, while others puzzled. It was indeed a new and emerging form of music.

 

Of course, it is ridiculous to suggest that any one band 'invented' progressive rock music, and again I am not sure that this is what is being claimed. The music of 1-2-3 was unique in style at the time, but there were other Hammond players, like Mike Ratledge for example who were taking the sound of the instrument beyond the Jimmy Smith thing, albeit in a different direction. What 1-2-3 introduced was an organ fronted blend of musical styles which was just not being played anywhere else by anyone else.

 

What helped was the superb musicianship of this trio. Harry Hughes for example who has to be one of the most acomplished drummers in the genre and is one of the few drummers I have seen who can do the 'Buddy Rich' one hand drum roll.

 

My six cents worth.

 

M."

Yes, exactly! When I wrote my original post, I'd made it as far as Chapter 7 - in case my initial comments seemed dismissive, I did subsequently finish reading the book, though I skipped some chapters I wasn't that interested in, it's that sort of book.

One section in particular struck me, the chapter on Manfred Mann which gave some insight into how MMEB came up with Joybringer and also probably explains how MMEB came to cover two songs originally recorded by Australian group Spectrum and written (of course) by Mike Rudd.

Yes, I still don't think the book amounts to an "FAQ", but, as a wide-ranging anthology of writing on prog and related music, it's definitely worth checking out...