British Prog is the best??

This is kind of a funny thread because rock music in general was motored by the British Invasion anyway and the subsequent prog wave (1969-1975) was essentially but not uniquely composed of British bands, as Italy, France, Germany, Holland had equally vibrant interest in this cultured form of Rock music. In fact, Montreal was a huge stepping stone for Euro bands into the American market. Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Tull, made their entries through French Canada  with bands such as Supertramp and Gentle Giant drawing HUGE crowds at a time when they were piddling everywhere else! What perhaps has been unclear is that it spread like wildfire (especially post -Woodstock) as everyone was looking for a new trip! But prog is essentially a borderless form of music unlike most other forms. PA has members that cover the globe , pretty much. Even Tierra del Fuego! 

Edited by tszirmay - June 16 2008 at 23:01

Atavachron wrote: tszirmay wrote: This is kind of a funny thread because rock music in general was motored by the British Invasion anyway  Not to get into chicken and egg territory, but since rock is an art form native to the United States, I think we know what motored what, and it depends what you mean by 'British Invasion', which was only an invasion if you didn't live in Britain..  the 'invasion' may have been the creatively and commercially dominant form for a good while - and even that's debatable when you consider artists as Santana, CSN&Y, Hendrix, Doors, Janis, BS&T, Iron Butterfly, Airplane, Joni Mitchell, Simon&Garfunkel..  (I'm sorry, did you say American rock wasn't influential? ;)  - but it didn't really influence progressive rock like the Anglo/American underground scenes did  .. in fact much Prog was a movement against the simpler blues/rock formats of Cream, Stones, Who, Beatles, Zeppelin, was it not?

I hope you'll forgive me if you really like Kansas. I've tried many times to enjoy their music (as I'm always on the lookout for good symphonic bands) and on their 'classic' albums, well, the instruments sound good but the music is totally spoiled for me by (a) the proto-AOR way of singing; (b) the lyrics, which are far too earnest and solemn. I really don't enjoy lyricists who preach and moralise; that's why I find most of Yes' output in the past thirty (!) years unbearable, as well as much of the output of Spock's Beard, the Flower Kings and, yes, the Tangent.

When it comes to 1970s North American prog, I much prefer Happy the Man and also Zappa, whose ONE SIZE FITS ALL is one of the greatest symphonic (!) prog masterpieces.

Now is British prog "the best"?

Ivan clearly doesn't think so (always excepting Genesis), but he mainly focuses on symphonic prog.

Other members have pointed out that the classic prog scene in Italy, Germany and other countries was just as varied and original as in the U.K., and I am willing to believe them. I've heard quite a few superb German bands, I'm discovering more and more Italian ones (thanks to Progarchives!), and they're lots of fun.

But in some cases I wonder: aren't you thinking with your head, instead of your heart? Ghostrider, if I'm not mistaken, you wrote the classic Italian scene was just as impressive as the British. But if I look at your list of reviews, among 36 albums you awarded the maximum number of stars, only 8 are non-British! Doesn't that tell you enough?

In the end, it remains a matter of taste. If you generally happen to enjoy non-British acts more than British bands, well, then so be it. I personally grew up with Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, and a whole range of Canterbury bands. They played a major role in forming me (hope that doesn't sound pompous), and for me their humour (erm, little humour in classic Yes, of course...) and colourfulness will probably remain unmatched. (By the way, this doesn't mean I haven't yet discovered any music beter than theirs - far from it.)

As for today's prog scene, it can't be denied it's much more alive OUTSIDE the U.K. As I've said many times, Kenso (Japanese) and Discus (Indonesian) are my favourite prog bands from the last two decades. They're really as good as any other prog I can think of. And don't start telling me they're not 'proper' prog! Kenso, for example, may play "fusion", but they're full of influences from classic prog acts like Steve Hackett and Brand X.

The Scandinavians, too, are doing better than the Brits. And I've come to realise I know too little about the Latin American prog scene.

But that doesn't mean British prog is dead. As I mentioned before, I find it especially heartening to see how influence from the Canterbury Scene is getting more and more pronounced in all kinds of British experimental jazz. It looks as if a whole generation of enthusiastic jazzers (mainly in their thirties and forties) are now incorporating influences from the Soft Machine, Egg and other bands they first heard several decades ago. And they have their own small, independent labels to release albums on. Something's definitely stirring there!

Ghost Rider wrote: Just for the record: the reason why I have mostly reviewed British albums is that, on a merely personal level, I tend to enjoy British bands more. However, this has NOTHING to do with British prog bands being objectively 'better' (provided such a thing can be proved in the arts).

Ghost Rider wrote: Just for the record: the reason why I have mostly reviewed British albums is that, on a merely personal level, I tend to enjoy British bands more. However, this has NOTHING to do with British prog bands being objectively 'better' (provided such a thing can be proved in the arts).

Not an easy matter. I enjoy Haydn's symphonies more than Mahler's, so for me, obviously Haydn is a greater composer than Mahler! (Of course Haydn's also written superb string quartets, oratorios, masses etc., which Mahler hasn't.) On the other hand, my sister-in-law is married to a conductor, who really loves heavy romantic stuff, especially Mahler and Tchaikovsky. In his view, Haydn is probably just a minor composer... Don't we all think this way?

Originally posted by tszirmay

This is kind of a funny thread because rock music in general was motored by the British Invasion anyway.

Spector ... Pure Pop  http://www.spectropop.com/hspector2.html

Edited by Valdez - June 17 2008 at 17:25

My collection has mostly English prog bands, so in my opinion they're the best obviously.

I'm certain that no-one thinks for a minute that Americans have inferior genetic code. lol.

this is a music discussion guys, let's keep politics OUT of it, please..  and I think it's been shown in this thread the enormous contributions and impact music from the U.S. has had