Should ELO be added to prog archives?

The next thing you know someone will say Enimen is Progressive Rap

I'd like to hear a few "pro" comments from those who voted in favour, as I listened to "Time" and "Out of the Blue" tonight to see if I could hear any prog.

What I heard was great rock'n'roll with an eye on disco(very!), with very clever arrangements and synth/string parts - and even a prologue and epilogue on "Time"; but all-in-all, two collections of 3-4 minute rock songs with flat 4/4 beats. Jeff Lynne's voice serves to underline that - pure rock'n'roll!

"The News" on "Time" had probably the proggiest flavour of all, but was still a 3 minute song with sound effects that didn't really journey anywhere. I think that anyone who hears prog in ELO should have a listen to Boston, Dire Straits or even ABBA: All three have progressive tendencies and all wrote fine music - but not prog.

I had a very enjoyable evening's listening, thanks to this thread

Edited by Certif1ed

THEY WOULD BE CONSIDER AS A PROG BAND IF WE TAKE THE EXAMPLES OF STYX OR ALAN PARSONS, THEY BEGAN AS PROG BANDS, BUT THEY LOST IN SOME WAYS THE STRENGHT THEY GAINED IN THEIR PREVIOUS WORKS. ELO'S FIRST FIVE ALBUMS ARE QUITE PROG, BUT THEY JUST BECAME  AS A SYMPHONIC BASED POP-BAND (GOOD SONGS INDEED)...IF YOU ASKED ME I WOULD SAY THAT NO, BUT IF BANDS LIKE STYX ARE ON THE WEB. SO WHY DO NOT ELO. IMAGINE SOMEONE BELIEVING THAT MR. ROBOTO IS PROG

Trouserpress wrote:

That's as maybe, Cert, but IMO ELO are simply too simplistic in their approach to composition and arrangement to be classified as prog. So they used strings. So did Robbie Williams. ELO weren't really doing anything that new.

Have to agree 100% with you, as I said a few posts ago ELO played Rock, POP and Disco Music with a few violins and Cellos, the same did James Last and Ray Coniff and that doesn't make the prog.

Even the tracks like Rockaria that try to sound operatic (even if it's a joke) are only some chords and a a guy singing as a So´prano over a classical rock & roll rhythm, the same gose for other good songs like Living Thing, etc, only attacches applied over simp´le arrangements.

Remember Stevie Wonder used massive Mellotron (A 100% progressive rock instrument) and he's not even near to prog.

Iván

...so did the Moodies - and I'm not saying that they should be in the archives either...

How silly of ELO to rip off Robbie Williams like that.

Edited by Certif1ed

I think that ELO produced more proggy music (early in their careers) than, say, Procul Harum, or Styx - and definitely more than Uriah Heep, all of whom are far less proggy than Deep Purple or Supertramp - does everyone think that "Dreamer" and "Breakfast in America" are all Supertramp did? "Crime of the Century" and "Even in the Quietest moments" are magnificent prog albums without a Mellotron in sight! And as for the Purps, well, if you think that "Smoke on the Water", "Black Night" and "Highway Star" are their limits, then you haven't heard "In Rock", "Made In Japan" or a dozen other great albums where the music goes way beyond rock'n'roll and well into prog territory. I mean, excluding Deep Purple because they have a strong rock'n'roll link is like excluding Jethro Tull because they have a strong folk link, or excluding Gong because they're too Jazzy.

Of course they should be added, I mean if so many recomend Radiohead, ELO is then just as good (even better IMHO).

_______

Lunar

ELO: NO

ELOY: YES

I do not seen much difference (aesthetically of course) between ELO and Manfred Mann, Procol Harum or Supertramp. So yes, they very well may be in Prog Archives. However, since it is not straight prog, it is up to Max....

CFF:

Your basic premise is unarguably correct: there are, indeed (in my and others' opinions) at least a few bands on PA that probably do not belong.  And there are at least a few bands who are not on PA who (again, in my and others' opinions) should be.

The ultimate decision for this rests with the webmasters.  Even I, as what amounts to a "senior administrator," have little or no control over this.  The best anyone can do is make a cogent argument for why a particular band belongs on PA, the webmasters consider it and, if they agree, they add that band, and if they do not, they don't.  And although it is true that a great number of people supporting a particular band's inclusion carries some weight, the ultimate decision is based on whether the webmasters feel that the band fits their chosen definition of "progressive rock" - which, of course, they have every right to do, given that they developed and control the site.

I have never known Max and the other webmasters to be arbitrary or capricious in their decision to add or not add a band.  Personally, I agree that Styx does not belong here.  (Indeed, I do not think Supertramp belongs here either, as much as I love them.  As I have argued, if Supertramp belongs here, then so do 10CC - who are equally "progressive" in the same way - and XTC, who are more "progressive" than both of them.  Yet Max et al have made no move to add either of them, despite strong arguments and quite a bit of support from other members).  Note that I was successful in getting Max to add The Church to the site only because I made a solid, clear and ongoing case based on the majority of their most recent albums, and the music thereon.  And I am certain Max et al took the time to listen to some of those albums, and arrived at the conclusion that The Church fit the site's description of "progressive."

Ultimately, this debate - who belongs and who doesn't - will probably continue as long as PA exists.  However, the final decision rests with the webmasters, and we must accept that, like the judges on Jeopardy, "their decision is final," and it must be respected.

Peace.