Prog rock tree (or map)

Be aware, 70's Catalan Prog was mostly based on Fusion. Some of my preferred recommendations:

 

MUSICA URBANA: both their 2 albums, eponimous and "Iberia", fantastic eclectic fusion.

ICEBERG: Their debut "Tutankhamon" is great rocking-fusion-symphonic with vocals, then they went pure instrumental fusion and their best albums of this period are "Coses Nostres" and "Sentiments".

FUSIOON: "Fusioon II" and "Minorisa".

ORQUESTRA MIRASOL: "D'Oca A Oca I Tira Que Et Toca", great fusion double-LP.

MIRASOL COLORES: "Linea 5" another fusion wonder.

SECTA SONICA: both their 2 albums "Fred Pedralbes" and "Astroferia", great guitar-based fusion.

COMPANYIA ELECTRICA DHARMA: "Diumenge", "Tramuntana", fusion with a folkrorical touch.

ATILA: "Reviure" great space-symphonic.

 

Many other great albums but the ones above should be a good starting point

 

 

Even though this last map is wayyyyyyy better than others, the information is not really that good or great.

 

Why? ... Easy ... Folk, Classical and Jazz were there way before Rock ... simply because the most distinctive thing in "Rock" is ... ELECTRICITY ... which did not really exist in most of the forms prior  ... which makes us think that rock was there before ... it could have been but was not electric, and we do not consider Chuck Berry "rock'n'roll" if it is done accoustically ... it's not the same and the attitude kinda falls off quick!

 

So, for me, with dates, of course, the chart would simply show Classical going way back ... then Avant Garde ... since this was a very obvious thing in Classical Music and you can easily start with Stravinsky ... then ... I would have a side bar ... which would be Folk music. And this one, could go back thousands of years and probably longer than "classical music"!

 

Folk music, is probably the most important part of "Progressive" as it gives it its impetus and desire to say something and fight for a cause. Folk music, has a history of fighting against many things, and not only in America, but in many other places around the world. The one thing here is that it also is highly volatile, and might have a lot of the cultural influences of the time and place. This "attitude" is important ... and one of the things that helped fuse "rock" into what it became, of which early folks like Bob Dylan (Blonde on Blonde) is absolutely massive! This "attitude" is also the main precursor to the INDIVIDUALITY that a lot of this stuff has, that becomes a musical expression sooner or later. But this "individuality" being defined as "music" was, is, and always will be an issue ... think of it as Mozart dictating to Salieri in the Amadeus movie -- the "establishment" did not like these "new", and very different, notations and expressions! ... still don't!

 

And then ... we have "jazz" ... and the Tom Dowd DVD here is the biggest historian of it there is for the American Music scene, and you all GOTTA SEE IT ... you will sit there and re-evaluate your thinking on a lot of "progressive" music! It might NOT, be the same thing as England/London, or Paris or Europe that have a tendency to appreciate arts and music a lot more than America does, but in essence, the American Movie Studios tried to kill jazz, accidentally, by pushing their "stars" instead ... like Elvis, Bobby Darin, and others ... and it made a lot of black music disappear from the market ... everyone bought what they knew and heard and SAW on the movies, and Elvis became a massive influence in a generation because of it, along with others.  At the expense of the "black music", which at this time, would normally be  ... a lot of jazz ... and I bet you gonna tell me that there was no black out there that was doing the same thing that Elvis was ... and better! Right!

 

In America, this map would take that popular music, mix the outspoken'ness of it all, and the independence of the black jazz music, and turn it loose at the Fillmore ... so to speak ... and you ended up with something that was called "psychedelic", because there was dope around it, but that's like saying that Paris never had dope or drink, and neither did London! ... BSSSSSSSS ... or Rome ... or Tokyo (which definitly had it!)

 

From the mix, came progressive and from that point on ... the "progressive" is a mumbo jumbo of everything including the kitchen sink ... but to my ears, folks like the Incredible String Band were far more progressive in all music than ELP, YES or Genesis ... and they even made it to Woodstock ... but no one got it! Theater on the stage? ... is that a newage concept of half naked nymphs running around on the stage? ... now you know why Wadleigh never showed it ...

On paper print you need 16 A4 sheets and glue them together to get the whole thing which looks like this (it covers the 70's only).

 

 

A zoom-in example of a small piece. Musicians in dotted line are guests:

 

 

 

If anyone would be interested I can email it in pdf.

You could say that.  I just found it entertaining that they made a "?" section.  

 

that's very informative !