Political Prog

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Posted: August 03 2024 at 13:24

As said so many times before, easy to stay away.

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Posted: August 03 2024 at 12:52

Hi,

Screw politics!

I stand to the right of Aphrodite and to the left of Chuck Amuck! Clown

Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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Posted: August 03 2024 at 10:48

Hrychu wrote:

LIBERALISM
a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual

source

I'm rather sure that someone like Ian Anderson would say, at least in the '70s, that in relation to capitalism, it's just some (bad) theory.

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Posted: August 02 2024 at 12:18

richardh wrote:

mostly considered a bit right wing back in the seventies

WHAT? Wow. By whom? Haha! Subdivisions ("Conform or be cast oot!") is an almost verbatim critique of right wing politics. xD

LIBERALISM
a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual

source

Edited by Hrychu - August 02 2024 at 12:20

“On the day of my creation, I fell in love with education. And overcoming all frustration, a teacher I became.”
— Ernest Vong

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Posted: August 02 2024 at 07:22

It may be a good idea to post here those lyrics again:

Niemen Aerolit - "Four Walls of the World"

In front of the wall of sound stand the deaf ones
They pray to the music
When you don't desire, when you have to
Better be nobody

In front of the wailing wall stand the clowns
They laugh at their own shadows' twitches
And their laughter is empty, their laughter is terrible
Better be nobody

In front of the wall of light stand the blind ones
And they look without blinking

About what shines, they know better

Than an ordinary man

A hero stands in front of the wall of execution

Looks the executioners in the eyes

Smokes his last cigarette

On the edge of the night

There is a world made of walls growing upwards

In it the word loses its value

I stand in front of an ordinary wall

And I bang my head against it

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Posted: August 02 2024 at 04:45

^ If the title "Four Walls of the World" is also meant to be associated with the four directions of the world, the afore-mentioned interpretation could be defended if changed to concerning the whole world-widespread marxism/communism/socialism the way it had been practiced by regimes. Such an interpretation can also be supported by the red, or even blood-red, wall on the coverart and not least in the eyes of the depicted face. However, stating such heavy criticism is even harder to me to believe, even there was a quite strong oppositional movement emerging in Poland in the mid-'70s, which was mostly leftist though.

Edited by David_D - August 02 2024 at 07:50

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Posted: August 01 2024 at 04:15

David_D wrote:

^^ One of the PA members has this interpretation of Niemen's "Four Walls of the World": "the Wall represents unmoveable government oppression and different folks' responses to a Wall of Pain."

I find this interpretation to be rather good, but I think that instead of government, it's better to say that the wall represents the Party (PZPR), or maybe even the political or the whole system. But I can also be in doubt about whether Czeslaw Niemen, the greatest Polish Rock star at that time, would be stating such heavy criticism, even in a symbolic way.

The original Polish title of "Four Walls of the World" is "Cztery Sciany Swiata", and it may be easily associated with "cztery strony swiata" which is the Polish expression for the four directions of the world: East, West, North and South. Having this as a starting point for the interpretation of the song, it may be more obvious with another one than the quoted.

I may be even more in doubt with a political interpretation of Niemen's "Strange Is This World", even I don't really think that song is about human nature.

I don't know that much about Czeslaw Niemen, but I think of him as more concerned with human beings in general, or the mankind, than with politics.

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Posted: July 29 2024 at 10:09

richardh wrote:

Rush

mostly considered a bit right wing back in the seventies a song like Trees might actually be the best song ever written about socialism, albeit from a capitalist perspective!

According to Scott Bullock, Neil Peart considers himself to be a "left-wing libertarian", and that's probably not only a bit right-wing.

(So tells Durrell Bowman in "Let Them All Make Their Own Music". in Progressive Rock Reconsidered, 2002, p. 193)

Edited by David_D - July 29 2024 at 11:29

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Posted: July 28 2024 at 05:19

^^ One of the PA members has this interpretation of Niemen's "Four Walls of the World": "the Wall represents unmoveable government oppression and different folks' responses to a Wall of Pain."

Edit:

As far as I understand it, it's also okay to tell that it's Cindy's interpretation.

Edited by David_D - July 28 2024 at 08:25

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Posted: July 27 2024 at 03:51

Rick Wakeman - "The Prisoner", a reflection upon death penalty and the Maker's decision as a consequence of murdering somebody,

No Eathly Connection (1976)

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Posted: July 26 2024 at 05:59

Not quite Prog as I see it, but here's no less than some revolutionary Jazz-Rock by the African

Osibisa - "Think about the People", from the debut album (1971), and an excerpt of the lyrics says:

Now stop for a moment
Think about the world
Think about the people
Think about their lives
Stop for a moment
Think about the system
Think about your children
Think about the whole wide world!

Think about deception
Think about pollution
Think about radiation
Think about destruction
Think about revolution
Think about a revelation
Think about a solution
Or think about a whole wide world!

RIGHT NOW!

Edited by David_D - July 26 2024 at 06:01

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Posted: July 24 2024 at 01:07

Antoni, do you have any idea for an interpretation of this song by Niemen? Could it be a political statement? The lyrics are written by the Polish poet and dramatist, Jonasz Kofta, and this English translation of them is made by Google Translate and slightly corrected by me:

Niemen Aerolit - "Four Walls of the World"

About what shines, they know better

Than an ordinary man

A hero stands in front of the wall of execution

Looks the executioners in the eyes

Smokes his last cigarette

On the edge of the night

There is a world made of walls growing upwards

In it the word loses its value

I stand in front of an ordinary wall

And I bang my head against it

The Polish title of this song is "Cztery Sciany Swiata", and it's from the album Niemen Aerolit (1975).

Edited by David_D - July 25 2024 at 12:04

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Posted: July 23 2024 at 08:59

David_D wrote:

Hrychu wrote:

David_D wrote:

Niemen Aerolit (PL) - "Pielgrzym", criticizing racism in regard to nomadic people, Niemen Aerolit (1975

I don't think it's about racism. It's rather more about a certain prejudice against those who value their traditionalist ideologies over whatever the general crowd perceives as more "down to earth".

It may be a question of racism definition, but I definitely see the lyrics/song as concerning the way of life of nomadic people and the differences when compared to the usual European/Western one. But okay, it's maybe better to be more cautious with using the racism term here.

About this song, I've been discussing with Hrychu, here's an English translation used by Niemen in a previous release:

A Pilgrim

Music: Cz. Niemen
Lyrics: C. Norwid / translation: Paweł Brodowski
Recording from the album: Ode to Venus, ed. NRF, GB 1973

Over states there is the state of states
As a tower over flat houses
Protruding into clouds
You think I’m not a lord
For my house is moveable
Of camel skin
Surely you know I also rest up in heaven
As it carries away my soul
Like a pyramid
Surely you know I also own the land
That my foot covers
Wherever I walk
Wherever I walk

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Posted: July 23 2024 at 05:58

^ The only band that remotely appeals to me from those listed above are Samla Mammas Manna. When it comes to RIO, I prefer Brazilian Prog. Wink

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(https://www.progarchives.com/subgenre.asp?style=36)

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Posted: July 23 2024 at 05:35

PA's article about RIO tells:

Rock In Opposition

Rock In Opposition (RIO for short) is the name of a short-lived movement that has gone on to define a sub-genre of progressive rock, and which is now sometimes applied to musicians whose careers hadn't even started by the time the movement had ceased to exist in any official capacity. It is not synonymous with the term avant-prog, for whilst bands associated with RIO are (generally speaking) avant-prog in nature, most avant-prog bands are not associated with RIO.

The roots of RIO can be traced to Henry Cow, a UK progressive rock band with a distinctly avant-garde sound and left wing political ideology. Henry Cow toured extensively in Europe throughout much of the 1970s and came into contact with a few similarly inclined bands, in an ideological sense as much, if not more, than a musical one. These groups did not always have much in common stylistically, apart from a basic leaning towards fusing avant-garde qualities with elements of rock. Most of these bands were working independently at the time and had no distribution or realistic opportunity of touring outside their native countries. The idea of Rock In Opposition was to create an independent network of like-minded performers that would not be dependent on the largesse of major record companies for their survival.

Henry Cow invited four of these bands to play alongside them at the first Rock in Opposition festival on 12th March 1978, at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane in London. The British Arts Council helped the funding of the festival with a £1000 grant. The Rock in Opposition slogan "The music the record companies don't want you to hear" was altered very slightly for the flyer advertising the first Rock in Opposition concert.

The five initial Rock in Opposition bands were:

Henry Cow (England)
Univers Zero (Belgium)
Etron Fou Leloublan (France)
Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden)
Stormy Six (Italy)

Three additional bands were later officially elected to the movement:

Art Zoyd (France)
Art Bears (England)
Aksak Maboul (Belgium)

The involved bands had many disagreements in a meeting at Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg, Switzerland in December 1978 about the purpose of the group, and its meaning. They eventually came up with a plan to continue their joint concerts. They organised three more festivals and co-operative record distributions but eventually the RIO group dissolved. It left behind a legacy that would initially be picked up by later projects from the many musicians involved with the original movement, and later on by artists inspired by the original RIO groups. Miriodor and Ensemble Nimbus are often said to be influenced by Samla Mammas Manna, for example, and are consequently sometimes referred to as RIO bands.

Since 2007, a contemporary RIO festival has been held most years in Carmaux, France. This festival has included artists closely associated with the original RIO movement alongside bands from the wider world of avant-prog and experimental music.

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Posted: July 21 2024 at 12:48

moshkito wrote:

The periodical by Archie Patterson, known as EUROCK posted a huge number of Richard's words and ideas, during the early days of the magazine. They are all compiled in the huge book Archie finally was able to put together.

I've got a copy of and have read this entire book entitled Eurock: European Rock & the Second Culture, and I can definitely recommend it, with its huge number of articles about and interviews with really many Krautrock and other European artists from the years 1973-2002.

Edited by David_D - July 21 2024 at 16:08

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Posted: July 21 2024 at 11:51

Frank Zappa had many politically pungent protest songs. One of the slyest is "Uncle Remus", which cleverly describes both the racial hatred and subtle discrimination (the ubiquitous cast iron or plaster black jockeys gracing many a suburban lawn) of the 60s and 70s:

Whoa, are we movin' too slow?
Have you seen us
Uncle Remus?
We look pretty sharp in these clothes (yes, we do)

Unless we get sprayed with a hose
It ain't bad in the day
If they squirt it your way
'Cept in the winter, when it's froze
An' it's hard if it hits
On your nose (on your nose)

Just keep your nose
To the grindstone, they say
Will that redeem us
Uncle Remus?

I can't wait 'til my Fro is full-grown
I'll just throw away my door rag at home
I'll take a drive to Beverly Hills
Just before dawn

An' knock the little jockeys
Off the rich people's lawn
An' before they get up
I'll be gone, I'll be gone

Before they get up
I'll be knocking the jockeys off the lawn
Down in the dew

Edited by The Dark Elf - July 21 2024 at 11:51

...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...

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Posted: July 21 2024 at 11:43

David_D wrote:

One of the French most political Prog (at least partly) musicians/artists in the '70s was probably Richard Pinhas of Heldon fame with for instance one or probably two political songs on Heldon's first album, Electronique Guerilla (1974):

1. "Ballade pour Puig Antich, revolutionnaire assassine en Espagne"

2. "Quais Marchais, Mieux Qu'en 68"

...

Hi,

The periodical by Archie Patterson, known as EUROCK posted a huge number of Richard's words and ideas, during the early days of the magazine. They are all compiled in the huge book Archie finally was able to put together.

They are difficult reading, in that they are intense, and really detailed. Not something that most progressive folks will go read and try to make sense of, but in the end, it just showed that Richard was not just another guitarplayer/musician out there ... I am not sure that most folks can relate to that kind of ability, and I suppose that we're glad that only the titles appear in the albums, which suggest a lot of things ... some of which did happen, and some that were buried by the media.

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Posted: July 21 2024 at 11:39

Mystique wrote:

...

Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1971) by Gil Scott-Heron

...

HI,

You can also get Gil Scott Heron on the film PERFORMANCE, in a piece that is really strong, and I think it questions some black attitudes. I'm not sure as I have not exactly studied the whole thing and only remember the few words ... they are strong!

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