What not prog band would've made the best prog? - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Devo
Joy Division
Nomadi
Cat Stevens

I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution

1. The Stranglers

2. Cardiacs

3. The Damned

4. Elvis Costello

5. Neil Young

Edited by LAM-SGC - October 30 2022 at 06:44

Lot of interesting comments.

Not mentioned before, what about

Cat Stevens

Alberto Radius

Paul Simon

Joy Division

...Carl Orff

I stand with Roger Waters, I stand with Joan Baez, I stand with Victor Jara, I stand with Woody Guthrie. Music is revolution

The Dark Elf wrote:

Actually, they had several compositions that ran one into another with an emphasis on what Frank Zappa would refer to as "conceptual continuity". Like this from Love It To Death....

I'm presuming given the video comes up as unavailable that you are referring to "Second Coming/ Ballad of Dwight Fry/ Sun Arise".

This tryptich is one of the best things done by Alice as a band or solo IMHO.

Btw, "Sun Arise" was co-written by Rolf Harris.

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of uncertain seas

Alice Cooper.

Their opus "Halo of Flies" is but one example of the possible prog brilliance of the original band.

I am not a Robot, I'm a FREE MAN!!

ExittheLemming wrote:

Judie Tzuke

YES!!!

"We're going to need a bigger swear jar."

Chloë Grace Moretz as Mindy McCready aka 'Hit Girl' in Kick-Ass 2

ExittheLemming wrote:

Mascodagama wrote:

ExittheLemming wrote:

Nick Drake

That is one I find difficult to envisage - prog, and indeed rock in general, seem pretty alien to Drake's aesthetic to me. Hard to know, of course, what he might have become if he'd received more effective treatment for his depression and drug dependency and been able to survive his twenties. But if one could trace any development in his work, I think the music became simpler and sparser over time.

I can see what you mean with regards the increasingly minimalist format but his harmonic language, guitar playing and exploitation of unusual alternative tunings were all still developing right up to the end and leave most traditional folk reference points way behind in terms of their sophistication. His final 3rd album was the only one where it's just his vocal and the guitar but the music doesn't strike me as being any simpler than before. Most reviewers at the time found Drake difficult to pigeonhole as many opined he was 'too jazzy to be folk' and 'too folky to be jazz'. The arrangements for string section and accompaniment by various members of Fairport Convention and John Cale indicate his songs had sufficient substance and depth to survive and be enhanced in a group/communal setting. Again, as you state, it's really a case of what if?

I wouldn't really disagree with any of that, and the fact that he ended up working just with his own voice and guitar may well have had more to do with this increasing alienation than a particular desire to simplify. I personally doubt he'd have ended up going in a rock direction if he'd pulled through, but indeed who knows.

Edited by Mascodagama - December 19 2021 at 14:55

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Hugh Manatee wrote:

ExittheLemming wrote:

Most reviewers at the time found Drake difficult to pigeonhole as many opined he was 'too jazzy to be folk' and 'too folky to be jazz'.

This reminds me of John Martyn, a contemporary and good freind if Nick Drake, to whom he dedicated "Solid Air".

I don't know if Martyn has been mentioned yet but he definitely belongs in the folk/ jazz prog category.

Yes, John Martyn is here on PA under Prog Folk

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=4939

Mascodagama wrote:

ExittheLemming wrote:

Nick Drake

That is one I find difficult to envisage - prog, and indeed rock in general, seem pretty alien to Drake's aesthetic to me. Hard to know, of course, what he might have become if he'd received more effective treatment for his depression and drug dependency and been able to survive his twenties. But if one could trace any development in his work, I think the music became simpler and sparser over time.

I can see what you mean with regards the increasingly minimalist format but his harmonic language, guitar playing and exploitation of unusual alternative tunings were all still developing right up to the end and leave most traditional folk reference points way behind in terms of their sophistication. His final 3rd album was the only one where it's just his vocal and the guitar but the music doesn't strike me as being any simpler than before. Most reviewers at the time found Drake difficult to pigeonhole as many opined he was 'too jazzy to be folk' and 'too folky to be jazz'. The arrangements for string section and accompaniment by various members of Fairport Convention and John Cale indicate his songs had sufficient substance and depth to survive and be enhanced in a group/communal setting. Again, as you state, it's really a case of what if?

Edited by ExittheLemming - December 19 2021 at 00:36

ExittheLemming wrote:

Nick Drake

That is one I find difficult to envisage - prog, and indeed rock in general, seem pretty alien to Drake's aesthetic to me. Hard to know, of course, what he might have become if he'd received more effective treatment for his depression and drug dependency and been able to survive his twenties. But if one could trace any development in his work, I think the music became simpler and sparser over time.

Soldato of the Pan Head Mafia. We'll make you an offer you can't listen to.
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