British Prog is the best??

The Krautrock scene goes back to 1967, before anyone would have thought of prog, and they were working on something similar already then. Bands like Guru Guru, Amon Düül (not yet separated into I and II back then) or Tangerine Dream did this kind of music before the famous "ITCOTCK" came out; they just didn't get an album out. But once "Psychedelic Underground" had come out the other bands dared to publish an album too because it could definitely not be worse than "Psychedelic Underground". It is a horrible album, but nevertheless a milestone in the history of prog; without it it would probably have taken a lot longer before Krautrock bands started publishing albums.
Now if you said the best symphonic albums are from the UK I might perhaps agree, though especially the Italian scene could rival you there. But for me the best scene is the Krautrock scene (up until 1974 or 1975). So many fantastic albums there; only very few British bands can compete with it (though some certainly do). Granted, most of the bands never made it big; in terms of success the Krautrock scene can't compete with the British scene at all. And most of the bands definitely don't fall under "symphonic" in any way. But in terms of "good music" they can definitely compete!


Edited by BaldFriede - June 15 2008 at 19:08

Rocktopus wrote: The only controversial bit is that what you write make you look like a typical englishspeaking cultural ignorant.

PinkPangolin wrote: The Beatles built Psychedelia

They did?  Really?  No, I don't think so.  The Beatles, despite being one of the greatest bands ever, built very little.  They were uniquely brilliant and innovative songwriters but to say they built psychedelia is historically way off.  Along with Blues, Jazz and Rock'nroll, Psychedelic Rock is an almost purely American offspring, springing out of the U.S. Folk scene in the early/mid 1960s--  the Byrds, Grateful Dead (then called Warlocks), Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother, all birthed psych rock which then quickly spread to England.  It amazes me this is so often forgotten.  In fact I'll go a step further, along with Brian Wilson and the other artist I mentioned, the U.S, was instrumental in creating Prog and produced some of its first protomorphs.

Byrds, Grateful Dead (then called Warlocks), Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother, but nothing from that turned to Prog did it ?  American so called  Psychedelic scene turned into Main stream Music AOR and Country Rock
unlike in the UK where the scene moved into Prog and Space Rock , oh the Underground scene in London in the UFO club with the likes of Floyd Soft Machine and the Nice etc etc was around the same time as the so called American Psychedelic scene was it Not ?

Edited by Hawkwise - June 15 2008 at 22:11

Did the Krautrock bands know about the English prog bands, and vice versa? I always considered the two (Krautrock and I guess English Symphonic) to be two separate scenes of progressive rock. Under the same name but not of the same movement. Am I wrong?

Edited by KeleCableII - June 16 2008 at 00:54

The T wrote: Rocktopus wrote: The only controversial bit is that what you write make you look like a typical englishspeaking cultural ignorant.    Could you at least ONCE try to pretend to be a social human being and not insult a person because they dare not to agree with your superior knowledge?

No. Its not an insult, Pink Pangolin wanted to make a controversial post, and my reply is totally relevant. Ghost Rider wrote exactly the same thing as me, minus the ignorance comment. But no matter how insulting it sounds, the ignorance part is very often the key.

The british 70's prog might very well be the "best" (they are absolutely not the leading current), but there's no real contest if you compare it with the US, now is it (who lost the because they often sound cheesy)? He must have noticed by now that many think that Germany, Italy and France could actually compete. Big difference between not agreeing with someone and simply not knowing.

I guess I know how I come off. I'm just honest, and I couldn't care less what you think you know about me.

Its not easy to spot your own country's cultural ignorance. From what other places than North-America or UK could you find any person saying something outrageous like: "No offence folks, but I don't like bands that sing in a foreign language"? No offence indeed. (I know the topicstarter hasn't written this).

Atavachron wrote: American Psychrock may not have turned into Prog, but U.S. Psych as a genre (i.e. the bands I've mentioned) was one of the main building blocks of the English Underground movement.  European Spacerock is kind of a separate deal, it drew from many sources and I don't really see the relevance   ..the term 'psychedelic rock' has been sorta twisted out of shape over the decades, becoming a catch-all for any 'trippy' or 'spacey' music but this just isn't the case, and history must be observed

Baldfriede, vielen Dank!
Fuxi

Certif1ed wrote: Atavachron wrote: American Psychrock may not have turned into Prog, but U.S. Psych as a genre (i.e. the bands I've mentioned) was one of the main building blocks of the English Underground movement.  European Spacerock is kind of a separate deal, it drew from many sources and I don't really see the relevance   ..the term 'psychedelic rock' has been sorta twisted out of shape over the decades, becoming a catch-all for any 'trippy' or 'spacey' music but this just isn't the case, and history must be observed      Most of it happened in the US   - Alan Watts album "Is This It", which is probably the first psychedelic album (released in 1962) was released in the US - although, admittedly, Alan was a British expat.   - The Holy Modal Rounders (US bizarre folk act) wrote the first song with "psychedelic" in the title, in 1964.   - Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. This coming together of folk and electric was the kick-start for psychedelia - suddenly, anything was possible.   - The Warlocks (later the Grateful Dead) were the house band at the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests later in 1965, and set up in Haight Asbury.   - Jefferson Airplane opened the "Matrix" club in 1966, around which a huge underground psychedelic scene evolved.   - In 1966, the Byrds released 8 Miles High, arguably the first psychedelic single.   - The Byrds, Dylan and the Beatles met up, in the US and the Beatles released Revolver on their return to England. The influence from the US is unmistakable, even though Revolver is indisputably a Beatles album through and through, with a strong psychedelic edge.   - Also in 1966, Delia Derbyshire helped organise the first Million Volts Sound and Light Rave in Newbury, Berkshire. At a later event in this series (early in 1967), Paul McCartney unveiled the legendary "Carnival of Light" - his subsequently unheard electronic piece. Some of these electronic pieces were extraordinarily psychedelic, and made synths very much the things to have in bands.   - I'm still trying to find a decent British "pure" psychedelic album that predates "Hapshash and the Coloured Coat featuring The Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids" (1967).    British rockers Art were the behind the scenes force, and came from the legendary scene that, without doubt, was at the very root of Prog Rock.   Pink Floyd's "Piper..." doesn't really fit the bill - or any bill, come to that. It's psychedelic, in a big way, but it's progressive too - and pop and rock music to boot.   But the latter dates from 1967 - the height of psychedelia, not its inception.     It seems quite clear that UK Prog arose from UK Psychedelia/Underground, which in turn arose from US Psych - and the Folk, Blues and Jazz scenes before that. Most of these musical types originated in the US - or Africa, if you want to be pedantic about it.

yes, thanks for the confirmation

Most of my albums, prog and non prog, come from the motherland (England). So yeah, I agree. For me, music from the UK is generally superior. "Generally" being the key word here!