1000 Prog Albums Over 46 Years: 1966-2011 - Progressive Rock Music Forum

My Personal Reflections on 1000 Prog Albums Over 46 Years:
1966-2011:

1969 - continued

#20

Colosseum Valentyne Suite album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Colosseum’s "Valentyne Suite" is one of the most accomplished albums of the late 60s when prog was an embryo. The album is legendary and the best the band produced. The album cover is a wonderful landscape with a mysterious ghostly woman standing forlorn near a massive candle. The music though is not a serene tranquil soundscape. In fact, the dynamism and energy injected into such songs as ‘The Kettle’ and ‘The Machine Demands a Sacrifice’ is astonishing. There is a heavy emphasis on guitar riffs and staccato Hammond. Dave Greenslade is a prog legend and he is on fire here, creating amazing atmospheric music on organ. Dick Hestall-Smith is commendable on sax and is well supported by virtuosos guitarist James Litherland. The rhythm machine is the bass of Tony Reeves and percussive work of Jon Hiseman. Together the band are an indelible force generating mind blowing music that forever changed the face of progressive music. They proved that a multi movement suite could be put onto a rock album well before the likes of Genesis' Supper's Ready, or Yes' Close to the Edge. Colosseum were pioneers of the form and were able to perform blues, heavy rock and symphonic art rock with ease.

There are two versions that are markedly different. The UK album featured not only different track order than the US version, but also included different songs. ‘The Kettle’ is one of the greatest tracks on the UK and is missing on the US version. ‘The Valentyne Suite’ is completely omitted on the US album which is bizarre considering the name of the album, and of course the US actually changed the title to "The Grass is Greener" as it included that song. US also added ‘Bolero’, ‘Rope Ladder to the Moon’, ‘Jumping Off The Sun’ and ‘Lost Angels’. Both versions exist on a double CD, with bonus tracks such as live broadcasts of ‘Lost Angels’ and ‘Arthur's Moustache’.

This is a breakthrough album certainly not only for Colosseum but for prog rock, similar to King Crimson's debut ITCOTCK. 1969 was a breakthrough year for the genre of course and set the boundaries and rules for progressive music. This album features all the prog elements: the side long epic 'The Valentyne Suite' (absolute brilliance), the thematic proggy 'The Machine Demands A Sacrifice ' and the ultra riff heavy 'The Kettle '.

A review by Sean Trane:

Second album from this groundbreaking quintet that had offered us much of a thrill with their debut. Again here, if you are looking for the vinyl, please be aware that this album came out with a very close-looking version in America, but a completely different track list and is titled, The Grass Is Greener 5BTW, I distinctly remember a first version of Lost Angeles on this version of the album). Again here I will review the Cd version as to not complicate things uselessly. What one must realize is that this album was the first released by progressive label Vertigo and the first vinyl to have that superb spiral spinning around the vortex of the record. A real delight to watch it spinning especially while listening to the second side of the vinyl. As if that label and that track were made for each other.

Starting in the same fashion as their debut on an incredibly positive, joyously-communicative (bordering on the epidemic contagion ;-), with Litherland stealing the show both with his superb voice and his wild guitar wailings, James "Butty" is reaching his moment of glory in this RnB-infested rock track. A real gas even if you are not that much in RnB music. Elegy has absolutely nothing to envy its predecessor both in happiness but here DH-S's sax takes the centre-stage and the group is accompanied by a superb string section, which at times draws chills in your back. As you might have guessed, the next track is a rather slow blues with an infectious organ groove and heavy brass section, and Butty Litherland unleashing his heart onto an unsuspecting microphone and your’e disbelieving here. Orgasmic. Closing of the A-side is a much-more Sacrifice-Demanding Machine, which confirms the progressive qualities detected in the debut album, even if the track is also starting as a blues, but this time much more oppressive than previous tracks and it has mid-track fade out (well this is not yet the 70's, so one can forgive the less successful experimentations such as this one. The track ends in a total chaos, which still shows that ideas were there, but not always perfectly laid out on wax.

But all you progheads are giving a hoot about is my coming down to describing the chef d'oeuvre that is coming out and filling (and fulfilling you) the B-side. Starting out a bit like Brubeck's Blue Rondo a La Turc (or more like The Nice's version of it), the track soon diverges from it as Greeenslade's delicious vibraphone descending lines reach directly into your heart, blocks the main vein and all you have to do is wait for the vibes to return before the strokes gets to you. But Dave is a gentleman and happily obliges some more life-saving orgasmic vibes lines. Clearly, this track is Greenslade's "Heure De Gloire", the track he will forever remembered for and as the first movement ends with him having switched to piano (McCoy Tyner-influenced) with DH-S approaching the feel of this writer's ultimate musician, John Coltrane during A Love Supreme!!!!!! Needless to say that Hiseman was playing along as if he was Elvin Jones. 30 years down the road this passage still nails me to the floor with tears of joy flowing out uncontrollably. The main Berstein-inspired theme then takes over again with Greenslade now taking more liberties with the harmonies, while the track is only made possible by Hiseman's wild drumming. As the track is again calming down, Butty Litherland comes in along with the others for some superb angelic vocalizing superbly underlined by D H-S's sax lines. To say that much of this track was written on the day that mankind walked on the moon (although only 6 at the time, I remember that day vividly) is simply so telling, July 21, 69!!! The third part is letting more part to the guitar, but Greenslade is dominating the debate again, and there are some incredibly delightful exchanges between the two but DHS is never far away either. Clearly, TVS is taking off where The Ides Of March had left it on the debut album. But as orgasmic this track is, there is also a feel that the many influences it draws from, even if well-digested are a bit too obvious and this might just be the ultimate reason why Colosseum will never break the big leagues like Yes or Crimson.

Unfortunately for him Litherland was to be sacked because he was mostly a blues player, and Hiseman being the boss he was (the group's official name is John Hiseman's Closseum), and having the opportunity to snatch Clempson from Bakerloo. Tony Reeves left also on musical grounds but of his own. So Clempson will bring in Mark Clarke into the band also. This second album while still not completely progressive, is certainly as historically important as The Nice's debut or Crimson's ITCOTCK and just for that merits the fifth star. Awesome!!!

#21

Phallus Dei
Amon Düül II

Amon Düül II Phallus Dei album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Amon Duul II's "Phallus Dei" is definitive Krautrock with raw guitar, improvisations and psychedelic effects. ‘Kanaan’ begins with Leopold's frenetic drumming and crashes of guitar and some unsettling vocals from Renate. The psychedelic underground is an influence and Sitar guitar fleshes out the Eastern drug induced influences. The freak out instrumental sections are sensational touches, and it all culminates in a finale with some flashy time sig changes. The bassline is particularly forceful and improvisational.

‘Dem Guten, Schönen, Wahren’ continues the trend with spacey effects and ethereal vocalisations. The chilling atmospheres are akin to the type generated by Magma or Can who were all into this type of macabre music. It all sounds like a Gothic Rammstein these days but this Krautrock was essential to the movement as was Can, Neu! and Popol Vuh.

‘Luzifers Ghilom’ has a driving rhythm and some fantasy language that sounds perfect to the music. The time sig changes are terrific on this track and it focuses on bassline embellishments and manic vocal intonations.

The side long 20 minute epic ‘Phallus Dei’ is an improvisational delight. It has some dark atmospheres and begins with soaring guitars and caterwauling vocals. The ethereal soundscape builds into ominous nightmarish textures. The violins are especially unsettling like a horror movie soundtrack with someone being stalked by a killer. The sound breaks finally after a free form passage, into pulsating bass and percussive shapes. The quick tempo is full of urgency and the echoed vocals are heard as a fuzzed guitar solo takes off. The tension is created with frenetic percussion and duel soloing improvised to the max. Eventually it settles into ghostly echoed cries and some spine chilling organ. The tribal rhythms break into a fractured time sig and twin violins. There is a more peaceful sound and it even lunges into a psychedelic jig. The duel tom tom soloing section is full of primitive sounds, like some bizarre ancient ritual. It is quite unsettling to hear the expressionist wails and cries but this was an innovation rarely heard on vinyl in this era. Finally the guitars lock in again and drive the track along with vibrant melodies. After about 15 minutes the song turns into a whimsical sound like a spooky Irish jig merging with ruptured violin solos.

This album is a terrific debut full of daring and experimentation and one of Krautrock's shining jewels.

#22

To Our Children's Children's Children
The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues To Our Childrens Childrens Children album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

The Moody Blues fifth album "To Our Children's Children's Children" may not be as inventive or ground breaking as the lush symphonic debut but this is still a strong album influenced by the concept of space travel and its impact on future generations.

Justin Hayward on guitars and lead vocals is sensational on this album. The consistent rhythm machine of John Lodge's bass and Graeme Edge's drums are a wonderful backdrop where Michael Pinder on keyboards and Ray Thomas on harmonica and flute can solo over. ‘Higher And Higher’ begins with space rocket effects and a blitzkrieg of pounding percussion and soaring guitar.

‘Eyes Of A Child’ is on more familiar territory, a track featuring the cool harmonies and peaceful textures that have become trademark for the band. Other highlights include the psychedelic ‘Floating’, the acoustic reflective ‘I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Hundred’, and the rocking ‘Beyond’, with strings and melodic guitars. The balance is played around with fluctuating from left to right speakers which is a trippy effect. The songs fade out quickly and are very short but it maintains the interest, and certain melodies fade in and out during songs. There is a lot of emphasis on space travel on the album, or themes about escaping into the stratosphere such as the symphonic Out and In. The concept was injected to celebrate Man's landing on the moon at the time.

‘Gypsy’ is another of the quintessential tracks for the band with haunting flute and majestic strings on mellotron. The melody has a mystical interstellar soundscape and this is perhaps one of the band's greatest triumphs. ‘Eternity Road’ is a psychedelic gem with Hayward at his best. Then song after song continues the peaceful relaxing atmosphere including ‘Candle Of Life’, ‘Sun Is Still Shining’, ‘I Never Thought I'd Live To Be A Million’ and closing with the mellotron soaked beauty of ‘Watching And Waiting’.

"To Our Children's Children's Children" is a relaxing journey into space and The Moody Blues excel on such conceptual albums. One thing that can be stated is the music is serene and accessible to any lover of beautiful music.

A review by Warthur:

Both one of the Moodies' most successful and cohesive concept albums, and one of the best of various musical explorations of space that came out in 1969 in response to the Moon landing, TOCCC features some of the Moodies' most complex playing - the arrangements being sufficiently dense in some places that they simply couldn't play much of the material live. Lurching from the drama and tension of Higher and Higher to the nursery-rhyme cadences of Eyes of a Child Part I and Floating, before returning to more stirring and dramatic fare with the second part of Eyes of a Child, the album seems various themes emerging again and again over its course, as the band plot a generally optimistic course for mankind's future. A mellotron- heavy masterpiece that attains progressive heights the band would unfortunately shy away from; for their next album they would veer towards simpler songs that were more within their ability to reproduce live.

#23

Santana
Santana

Santana Santana album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

The debut for iconic legends soul rocking Santana is a phenomenal album full of songs that would cement the band as contenders for one of the most successful groups in history. Carlos Santana is the driving force on lead guitar and absolutely energizes each track with dynamic creativity. The power of the tracks is injected with heavy stabbing overpowering Hammond.

The debut album is mainly instrumental and begins with a bright jam session on ‘Waiting’, a sanctuary of incessant bongos and pumping bass. ‘Evil Ways’ follows and has become a part of Santana’s set list over the years and for good reason. It features amazing dextrous playing of Carlos and swathes of organ that locks into some of the most infectious melodies the band generated. There are Latin flavours wrapped up in ‘Shades of Time’ driven by no less than three percussionists. An instrumental follows in ‘Savor’ and then the wonderful ‘Jingo’ sung in Spanish and Carlos is an inferno on guitar; an absolutely extraordinary guitarist with worldwide acclaim.

Later on the album is the six minute instrumental, ‘Soul Sacrifice’ that is unforgettable with manic percussion and staccato Hammond blasts. It was a major highlight of the “Woodstock” concert phenomenon. It caps off a very strong debut that has become engrained in the band’s success and indeed is one of the all time great debuts of 1969.

A review by Mellotron Storm:

The debuts of certain bands that came out in the sixties were very significant. Sure with some of these bands you could say they released better albums later on, but unless you were there it's hard to appreciate how groundbreaking and important albums like "Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn", "Freak Out!", "Are You Experienced" and many others were. This is another one of those. SANTANA was different with those Latin beats and Carlos' unique guitar style. I prefer the next three albums they put out more than this debut but man this album is very significant on many different levels. This was released in the summer of 1969 and my edition has three bonus tracks from their performance at Woodstock in August of that same year.

"Waiting" opens with lots of percussion as the organ joins in. Check out the guitar before 3 1/2 minutes. "Evil Ways" is of course a popular hit for the band with that catchy beat. Some nice organ after 2 minutes. It picks up before 3 minutes with guitar. "Shades Of Time" opens with guitar, organ and drums. It settles in with vocals and percussion as contrasts contiue. "Savor" opens with percussion galore then some powerful organ runs invade the scene. It blends into "Jingo" which has a heavy beat with organ then some wicked guitar. Themes are repeated. Great tune.

"Persuasion" is uptempo with vocals. The guitar after 2 minutes is excellent with the organ helping out. "Treat" opens with piano as percussion joins in and it builds. Guitar after 2 minutes. Great sound! It settles back late. "You Just Don't Care" has a bombastic intro then it settles with vocals but there are outbursts of bombast that come and go. Love the guitar and organ 3 minutes in. "Soul Sacrifice" is my favourite track on here. Percussion is joined quickly by a full sound. Nice guitar 3 1/2 minutes in with organ and percussion. Some killer organ follows. The summer of 1969 was one special time not only for SANTANA but for their fans too.

#24

Volume Two
The Soft Machine

The Soft Machine Volume Two album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Avant-jazz and quasi-psychedelic improvisation may describe this 33 minute journey.

Soft Machine's second album is a delightful flight of whimsy featuring some of the more humorous tracks of the band beginning with a montage of non stop jazzy mayhem ‘Rivmic Melodies’. It begins with a psychobabble intro, the alphabet and then working towards some absolutely incredible jazz infested psych prog. It really takes off on the longest track, 6 minutes worth, called 'Hibou, Anemone and Bear' with huge dollops of keyboards and woodwind. The band were at the height of creativity with the likes of Hugh Hopper on bass, alto sax, Mike Ratledge on keyboards, flute, Robert Wyatt on drums, vocals, and guest Brian Hopper on tenor & soprano sax. It is a sheer delight when Wyatt moves into his trademark singing, surely one of the all time most original vocalists in prog history.

The music changes dramatically and some tracks are only seconds long which is okay because they are snippets of a seamless track that merges together on side one. 'Dada Was Here' is the next decent length track and Wyatt is sensational on echoing vocals and drums. The harmonies are quite endearing too, along with an off beat feel in the music. The cadence is broken often by slight pauses as though band members are waiting for the next instrument to chime in. There is a genuine sense of appeal here because the music has a compelling vivacity.

The way the songs keep up an exuberant non stop verve is a master stroke on behalf of the musicians. One does not have time to think about a specific track as they keep coming at lightning speed, some 10 seconds, or over a minute, and others 2 minutes 30 such as the manic chaotic 'Out Of Tunes'. The band suffer a multiple progressive disorder on this track and it's a thrilling theme park ride, with flutes twisting and turning and drums crashing while Wyatt uses his vocals like a howling wind.

The psychedelic flavour is well and truly ingrained in the album by the end of side one and the only place to go is to a free form jazz piece, and they do on side two beginning with 'As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still'. This one almost feels like a song but still features off kilter musical figures and shapes. The guitar is a phased sound and it is undoubtedly one of the best Soft Machine tracks.

'Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening' is another SM favourite and is an acoustic dominated Wyatt quasi-ballad. It feels like his solo material to come but the time sig is quirky enough to fit in with the rest of the experimental works. The weirdness returns in earnest with ‘Esther's Nose Job’ which is broken into a series of musical anecdotes. 'Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging', which is really a collage of instruments competing for some semblance of recognised notes and failing. This segues straight to 'Pig' slogged over with a prog time sig that misses beats and is over before it has time to develop segueing into a bizarre jazz fusion in 'Orange Skin Food'. In less than two minutes we are over this hurdle lunging headlong into 'A Door Opens And Closes'. This short piece is a fuzz guitar and crackling percussion with brass blasts and Wyatt returns with vocal intonations. The ending is a longer song '10.30 Returns To The Bedroom' and features Wyatt freaking out on a drum solo and the Hammond hammer downs fizz with a fervor that ends this on a high point.

The conclusion can only be that this is one of the great early Soft Machine albums and is the place to start; then perhaps move on to "Third" where the band indulge in endless forays of improvisation. The band are stunning virtuosos on any album and are indispensable as progenitors of the emerging progressive scene.

#25

Trout Mask Replica
Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart Trout Mask Replica album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Master of the absurd presents a unique experience that becomes ultimately repellent.

Captain Beefheart is renowned for one album; “Trout Mask Replica”. The cover has that iconic image. It is well known as being a freaky trippy album with insanity turned up to 11 and experimental RIO Avant nuances. Often the infamy of an album becomes an enigma, and in this case the enigma of the album is far stronger and compelling than the actual material on it. In a similar way to Zappa's infamous 'Freak Out' album, 'Trout Mask Replica' is a journey into the absurd. Beefheart blows the doors off all vestiges of normality and plunges bone deep into the irrational. He gets into it up to his neck in fact and drags the unsuspecting listener in there with him and we have no alternative but to sink into the dark recess of a jaded mind. It is not even slapstick comedy but is rather fuelled with a disturbing and at times entertaining bizarre cynical edge. The edge is tarnished in places with overblown anti-poetry and in a sense anti-music. Many of the songs have a time signature that does not sync with the words, a drum may seem completely out of rhythm with the jangly guitars. Some of the tracks have no music at all and consist of a Beefheart monologue. ‘China Pig’, and ‘Hobo Chang Ba’, for instance, are challenging. The lyrics are weird to say the least, though at times the high strangeness is amusing making this an endurable curio album running for a full 78 minutes.

On 'Well' Beefheart states "night blocks out da heaven like a big black shiny bug!" On 'Old fart at play' there are a number of ramblings such as "mama, pecked the ground like a rooster, swivelled like a duck... the old fart smelled this through his breather holes, his excited eyes from within the dark interior glazed watered in appreciation.... oh man that's so heavy". On 'The Blimp' we have the iconic insanity of "the mothership! the mothership! the blimp! the blimp! it blows the air the ceiling fan look up into the sky, all the people stared, oh mama who cares it's the blimp! its the blimp!" Best of all is 'Pena' with the hilarious dialogue, "Fast and bulbous, also a tin teardrop!, The mascara snake, bulbous also tapered. Stuff billowing up from between her legs made me vomit beautifully and crush a chandelier." The whole album is full of such anecdotes and none of it makes sense.

The moment you try to pin some kind of meaning on this baloney is the moment you have completely lost the point of the album. The point is that sometimes music does not make sense and we shouldn't try to pin on it sense when there is none. The dissonance of the time sigs, and instruments competing against each other is the avant sound that Beefheart strives for. This music is all about escaping a mediocre mainstream sound to make way for the new sound; a sound that is at times innovative, highly creative and other times hilarious, at times disturbing and creepy, and then unfortunately often becomes tedious.

After the initial shock reaction and admittedly amusing response that will be generated from the album, (indeed it can become a topic of conversation in the same way as The Residents), the music will soon become confronting and unpleasant. The singing is rather malignant, backed by benign dialogue. It is similar to 'Freak Out' with the smatterings of dialogue, and a rawness that is edgy, psychedelic, or is that psychotic, and dissonant. The sax blasts from the captain are great, the flute and clarinet add to the fun, but the jangalang guitar dominates as well as some sporadic drumming. In a sense the music is the best thing about it but one cannot ignore those hyper weird lyrics and Beefheart's exaggerated accentuated growls.

Beefheart's prose and idiocy causes him to disappear up his own tail shaft. One thing for certain is that you are unlikely to hear anything this ludicrous. 5 tracks are wrothy of checking oiut, 'Pachuco Cadaver', 'Sugar 'N Spikes', 'When Big Joan Sets Up', 'Ant Man Bee' and 'Old Fart At Play'.

A review by Conor Fynes:

An acclaimed, influential, and ultimately hyped album, 'Trout Mask Replica' has a way of tearing a crevice between music listeners. Some hail it as one of the most original sounding and adventurous albums ever made, while others recoil in disgust at its fairly loose and quirky approach. As with many albums that get hyped up with their controversy, I get rather excited, in eager anticipation to see whether I'll be in the 'love it' or 'hate it' school of thought. With this album though, I find myself in a very unique position. I can relate to the views of both, and understand fully why someone would either adore, or abhor it. Simultaneously, Captain Beefheart has created an album that is both ingenious, yet can be interpreted as stupidity. An album that is dissonant and ugly-sounding, yet warm and endearing. Although very imperfect, 'Trout Mask Replica' does revel in its flaws, and while I still don't quite understand the legendary hype around this album, Captain Beefheart has created an intriguing artistic statement here.

A very long album for its time, 'Trout Mask Replica' is comprised of a twenty eight track, seventy eight minute wander through Captain Beefheart's rather deranged mind. Although I was expecting to hear something unclassifiable as the hype would have me believe, I interpret 'Trout Mask Replica' as a loose and experimental style of blues rock, with jazz and spoken word elements. Of the twenty eight sections here, things can be divided up into either bluesy songs, jazzy instrumental snippets, or spoken interludes with some surreal and often very silly dialogue.

The blues element to 'Trout Mask' is arguably the most conventional, and gives the most concrete impression of songwriting that the album can muster. The jazz elements are much more loose, and rely more on the keen yet intentionally rough musicianship of the Magic Band, rather than the nasal charisma of Beefheart. Lastly, the interludes offer the least musicality to the album, but rather aim to break up the action a little, giving a nicer sense of flow. Indeed, the album is not all over the place, but instead seeks to return to a handful of different styles that are weird and off-putting enough to keep sounding fresh.

Probably the biggest point of derision for 'Trout Mask Replica' is the really jammed-out instrumentation behind Beefheart's voice. Indeed- especially upon a first listen- it sounds very much like each band member is playing something completely independent of the rest of the band. This could be interpreted as brilliantly polyrhythmic, but the way that the band passes themselves off makes it sound like they cannot play their instruments at all, and that a lot of the sound on 'Trout Mask Replica' is fashioned out of their incompetence or ambivalence towards the album. Of course, this is not true at all; the Magic Band are very talented musicians, and while I can admit that even I was wondering at a few points over the course of the album whether or not these musicians had a little too much to drink before recording, the best way to appreciate 'Trout Mask Replica' is to take everything as is, and interpret everything as being feverishly intentional.

The sound and originality to 'Trout Mask Replica' is brilliant, but the album's length does feel unwarranted, especially when listening to the second half of the album seems almost like a total reprise of the first. Although lyrics change and the details become different, Beefheart's freakout blues does repeat itself, and over the course of twenty eight tracks, it really does feel as if there is material here that is on the record only to emphasize a previously made point, rather than to add anything new to the album. Listening to the second half, it really did feel in parts as if the entire thing was repeating itself, and while a longer album often equates to more value, 'Trout Mask Replica' could have made an even bigger statement if it had been cut down a little. The quirky passion is here in Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band like nowhere else, but unless the point was to create a deja-vu feeling, some of the time here could have been trimmed.

Captain Beefheart's genius does shine through here, although it is a tough pill to swallow at first. This is not music that can be enjoyed all too much without paying close attention to everything that is going on, and while I do love what Beefheart sets off to do here, 'Trout Mask Replica' still feels like an album that could have been improved upon. The first ten songs or so give an intense and refreshing experience, but as the album plods on, the recycled quirk can wear thin. All the same, 'Trout Mask Replica' is intense, and while it still may not be the 'weirdest' thing out there, it will challenge even the more adventurous listeners out there.

#26

Sea Shanties
High Tide

High Tide Sea Shanties album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Light years ahead of their time, High Tide presents the birth of prog metal.

The first sound that emanates from this colossal album is a grungy sludge guitar riff, very distorted and fuzzy. It almost sounds grunge and this is back in 1969! It begins with the lo-fi crunching psychedelic metal of ‘Futilist's Lament’. The band announce that this is going to be a heavy psych prog experience. High Tide are Roger Hadden on drums, Tony Hill on guitar, vocals, Simon House on violin, piano, and Peter Pavli on bass. They are one of the loudest, heaviest bands of the late 60s and must have been a major influence to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and reminds me of Blue Cheer meets Hawkwind. The metal riffs are almost like Black Sabbath in places and the wah-wah guitar reminds us we are in the psychedelic 60s. This is a sensational track that must be heard over and over with the amps on 11.

‘Death Warmed Up’ is a 9 minute hard rocking instrumental with blazing guitars and a manic violin that assassinates the grunge vibe to make way for a progressive heavy sound. The twin guitar lead break is spacey and locks in on a repetitive riff. It is rather lengthy for a loud, proud, and endowed band, but it works in a hypnotic sense, similar to the sonic jamming attack of Hawkwind.

‘Pushed, But Not Forgotten’ is a slow ballad with quiet violin and guitar and a gentle vocal. It breaks out into a loud guitar solo and a heavier beat with some excellent guitar riffs. Then it settles back to a serene atmosphere with restrained music lulling you off to sleep. The amps get turned up again and the distorted guitar cracks the peace in half with admirable ferocity.

‘Walking Down Their Outlook’ begins immediately with moderate vocals and steady beat. Then there is a wonderful guitar lick using scaled notes up the frets. The spacey section follows and ascends until another screaming guitar passage. The way the song breaks and changes constantly is quite an original approach given the date this was released. The section that begins at 2:40 is one of the great instrumental breaks, howling guitars, folk violins and keyboard augmentations. The cadence escalates into a hypno-groove with folk metal motorvating along on a strong beat. Then a minimalist violin takes over to finish this wonderful heavy prog.

‘Missing Out’ is another lengthy 9 minute track, with very complex fugue motifs emblazoned over intricate guitar notes constantly played. The violin is always present slicing back and forth and the estranged vocals of Tony Hill. What a sensational sound High Tide are able to create with these instruments, almost like a metal version of Comus. At 3:50 there is a fantastic violin and lead guitar solo with instruments trading off to the wild percussion. The lyrics are hard to decipher but a lot of it sounds improvised such as “Oh, my soul is going down, and I’m ready.” This finishes with an attacking drum solo and an extended outro.

‘Nowhere’ closes the album with a terrific violin and guitar solo at the start. The violin and guitar battle it out for supremacy for a while, neither winning the contest, and then the lead guitar takes over with prog time changes and is joined by a descending flurry of violin notes. It slows in tempo and Hill’s low vocals return; “marking time and shutting out each warming smile, what shall be the go between they laugh and cry, effigies of souls are seen to come and go, moving through the mists of fear , they come to know.” The dark lyrics fit in perfectly with the moody atmospheric music.

The conclusion is that this album is one of those rare treasures unearthed from the tomb of obscurity, hardly making an impact until now, and the listener will be enthralled that “Sea Shanties” finally has seen the light of day.

#27

On The Threshold Of A Dream
The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues On The Threshold Of A Dream album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

After the hugely successful "Days of Future passed" and "In Search of the Lost Chord", both excellent concept prog albums, The Moody Blues had one further stint at a conceptual thematic album with "On The Threshold of a Dream".

This one features some of their trippiest material such as the rollicking harmonious 'Lovely to see you' and the psychedelic 'Dear diary'. It kind of blurs together after this great opening with the likes of 'Send me no wine', 'To share our love' and 'So deep within you'. 'Never comes the day' brings things back to excellence, and the big closing suite is great; 'Have you heard? pt. 1', 'The voyage' and 'Have you heard? pt. 2'. This is where the album's proggiest moments lie.

A review by Sean Trane:

Regarded by my friends as their most accomplished concept album, this is confusing obscure and aimless (even if there is a concept) to my ears, but again the majority of Moody fans doesn't think as me. The album is still pretty good/worthy and does belong in the classic run of late 60's early 70's albums, it just pleases me less than the previous Lost Chord and the follow-up Children.

The noteworthy fact about this album is that it was the first released on their private Threshold label - in that regard the Moody Blues were groundbreakers since they were the first group to own a label with Jefferson Airplane (they had the Grunt label). But they might've tried harder for a first private label release.

#28

Monster Movie
Can

Can Monster Movie album cover

A review by Mellotron Storm:

4.5 stars. For me this album rivals "Tago Mago" as their best release. Probably the best guitar work I've heard from Karoli. It opens with "Father Cannot Yell" that features a relentless beat and throbbing bass as Karoli plays over top with his fuzzed out screaming guitar melodies. Amazing! Mooney stops singing and joins the groove 3 minutes in with vocal melodies. "Mary,Mary So Contrary" is based lyrically on the nursery rhyme. It's slower paced with Mooney's wonderful vocals leading the way, as Karoli again grinds out melodies over top.The song builds in intensity until the vocals stop 3 1/2 minutes in.This song so moves me. How can something so simple be so emotional? A brilliant display of guitar work on this one.

"Outside My Door" opens with a 60's feel to it. Hmmm,this is 1969 right? Harmonica sounds fill the air as Mooney almost speaks the lyrics. He then starts to sing as he and the song becomes more passionate. Some ripping guitar follows with out of control vocals. "Yoo Doo Right" is a side long suite at over 20 minutes in length. The drums pound slowly as gentle guitar comes in followed by soft vocals.This hypnotic, repetitive melody starts to build. "Once I was blind, but now I can see now that your’e in love with me." The guitar 3 minutes in is killer! Check out the drumming of Liebezeit 6 1/2 minutes in. Experimental sounds come in. Percussion and reserved vocals only 8 1/2 minutes in. The song rebuilds like it did in the beginning. Incredible.

"You made a believer out of me babe". The vocals stop after 12 minutes as the guitar, bass and drums play on for about 3 minutes until vocals return. Nice. The Can do right on this one. I am more partial to their earlier stuff. These guys sure can groove though. This came out the same year as "In The Court Of The Crimson King". A very significant record, not only in the Krautrock genre but in progressive music period.

A review by Warthur:

The first Can album melds psychedelic improvisation with repeating, mantra-like song structures inspired more than a little by the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat album (in particular, the unending, droning jam of Sister Ray), presided over by the impassioned, manic lyrics of Malcolm Mooney. The album's two highlights are Father Cannot Yell, whose proto-punk speed and energy makes it a clear predecessor to some of Neu!'s louder and rockier works, and the epic jam of Yoo Doo Right; Mary, Mary so Contrary's nursery rhyme lyrics and undeveloped backing grate after a while, whilst Outside My Door takes a Barrett-era Pink Floyd sort of idea and then doesn't do very much with it. Still, an excellent start for one of the foundational Krautrock bands.

#29

Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Whole Lotta Prog!

Following in the successful slipstream created by their knockout debut, the Zeppelin moved onto a bonafide classic in the same year. 1969 is arguably where prog began in earnest and albums like this certainly helped to boost music onto a different plane of existence. Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham are in fine form and created absolute genius trademark songs, that have in themselves become legendary.

The opener is the riff every guitarist envied at the time. ‘Whole Lotta Love’ begins with the killer riffing machine of Page that feels dark and dirty but absolutely unforgettable. "You need coolin'" sings Plant in his falsetto and therein history is made. Emulated, copied, parodied but never bettered, the song is perhaps a quintessential piece of the entire rock era. It even featured original use of song structure in a true progressive vein. It almost seems an obsolete task to try and describe the nuances created in this track but it bears mentioning in order to demonstrate how innovative the band were at the time. The mesmirising riff drives headlong with music strafes using guitar slides. Eventually the sensuous sliding is taken to the lowest point before the music dies and we hear Bonham's hi hat tinkering, a jazz infestation among the hyper bluesscape. There is a brief lead break that never quite fits but has since become part of the entire atmosphere. The song returns to the outstanding riff and verses until once again the music diminishes and there is an uncharacteristic pause, but it is not over. Plant is heard in false reverse echo and then the actual voice answers "Way down inside". Then we hear the echo of another phrase, followed by the actual phrase, "Woman, you need loooooooooooooooooooovvvvvveeeeee." These very weird Plantisms are refreshingly original as Plant screams 'love' from the bottom end up to his highest range. The unearthly reverse echo is now infamous and so rarely used it is almost a benefactor of this one song, a patron of a lost art never created in the first place. This typified the experimentation of the group that were perhaps attempting here to compete with the drug consciousness. Whatever the case, the song stands the test of time as vital to the proto prog scene and rock in general.

Other songs? I will name a few. We have another delightful rocker in the form of ‘Heartbreaker’. There is a raucous blast of rock on ‘Ramble On’, with Plant shrilly and as impossible to ignore as Page's lead guitar durability. The tough sounds of guitar are a key feature especially on tracks like ‘Bring It On Home’ and the enduring hypnotic ‘What Is And What Should Never Be’. Bonham has his finest moment on the drum showcase ‘Moby Dick’, a song that remains a tribute to the late great percussionist.

The blues was always present and Zeppelin borrowed and reinvented the clichés of yesteryear to create a sound that bedazzles on every listen. The exuberant array of songs are now firmly engrained into the rock subconscious but with the album peaking on many top 100 lists. For me, it is simply one of the best examples of music trailing out the end of the 60s.

A review by dreadpirateroberts:

Led Zeppelin's II is a step away from the blues and deeper into hard rock.

Some amazing moments spread across this album, one which has a nice sonic unity for something recorded in various studios. Engineer Kramer attributes this impressive feat to Page.

The hard blues and hard rock sound from Led Zeppelin is continued. It's a strength, and Zeppelin play to it, especially in the 'The Lemon Song.' More of the hard rock comes in to classic 'Whole Lotta Love' and lesser tracks like 'Bring it On Home' or the much stronger 'Heartbreaker.' with its satisfying second solo and outro.

'Living Loving Maid' is inessential and 'Bring it On Home' is of course, a bit better live. 'Moby Dick' does have a catchy riff, even if the drum solo is not something I listen to every time I put the album on, but most impressive about II, aside from the gigantic influence it had, was where Zeppelin deviated from their hard blues blueprint, creeping closer to what fans would hear on III. Hints of it were abound on Led Zeppelin but a gentle track like 'Thank You' or the chilled 'What is and What Should Never Be' were something new for the band.

Lyrically, many of these songs are among the most obvious of Plant's offerings, still deep in the blues 'theft'/sexual swagger stage. But he gets more interesting on the album's real highlight 'Ramble On.' A song that looks forward to his later use of Tolkien themes and looks back compositionally to the 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You' dynamic (but does it better). With a nimble Jones and thoughtful guitar parts from Page, an even more explosive chorus from the whole band, it was a moment on the album that was capped with the impressive stereo panning of Robert's ad-libs during the dying seconds.

Another historically significant rock album from Led Zeppelin, released right on the heels of their debut.

#30

Renaissance
Renaissance

Renaissance Renaissance album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Renaissance produced some high quality albums over the years and this debut kicks off to a rollicking good start. This lineup was short lived but is a consistent force on this album. Keith Relf is a fine guitarist and harmonica player. Jim McCarty and Jane Relf are percussionists, with Jane also on vocals, John Hawken is wonderful on piano and harpsichord, and Louis Cennamo kepps it together on the bass. Obviously Renaissance fans familiar with other albums would miss the soaring crystalline high octaves of Annie Haslam, but this is where the band began and it is a terrific debut with very progressive moments. The Yardbirds sound is noticeable as members of the band Keith Relf and Jim McCarty were involved with the iconic sixties group on the earlier albums.

‘Kings And Queens’ begins the album with manic piano lines and majestic sounds lasting for almost 11 minutes. The drums soon lock into a progressive hypnotic time sig and the male vocals are well sung; “fantasy turning into truth.” There are classical influences and psychedelic sounds in equal measure, with free form improvisational sections. The structure is innovative taking detours into other styles and then bringing it back to the main motif.

‘Innocence’ is a 7 minute track with hypnotic guitar figures that are exemplary to the psychedelic sound of the sixties. ‘Island’ is led well by Jane Relf who may not be on a par with Annie Haslam but still can reach high notes and sings beautifully. It builds to a great piano led instrumental break with Beethoven nuances and the bass follows along precisely all the complex musical figures.

‘Wanderer’ features a chaotic time sig and some medieval sounds on harpsichord, that have an old King Arthurish feel, as did many Renaissance albums to come. Jane produces gorgeous vocals again with very high octaves.

‘Bullet’ is another lengthy track of almost 12 minutes with jamming and improvisational instrumentation. It closes the album with a massive sound of guitar, piano and pounding drums. Keith Relf takes on vocals and sounds decidedly bluesy. Overall this is a solid debut signifying great things to come from one of the most influential prog legendary bands standing at the dawn of prog.

A review by Sean Trane:

Icarus Ascending

Who would've thought that the Yardbirds' spine members would've converted into a progressive rock band after the departure of their flurry of guitaris legends, such as Clapton, Beck and Page? OK, I'll admit that this reconversion has a little bit of a "jumping on the bandwagon" feel, but these guys were credible right from the start. With Page somehow taking the Yardbirds name with him (and wasting it away, preferring to call Zep his new band), Jim McCarty, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith (the latter on production) decided to change their musical direction and surprisingly chose the more difficult (and risky) choice of going "prog". Enlisting ex- The herd Cennamo on bass, and ex- Nashville Teens John Hawken on keyboards (through another ex-Yardbirds, Chris Dreja), it is obvious that it is the latter's involvement in the group that defined the group's new musical direction, through his classical penchants. Rounding up the line-up is the superb sister of Keith, Jane Relf that was a folkie at heart, which fitted well with Relf and McCarty's new direction; they'd formed a duo called Together after leaving the Yardbirds and recorded an album and this helped shape the Renaissance sound, as both writers were now composing on acoustic guitar and would write all but one track of this album together.

Indeed, Renaissance's typical sound is a unique cross of Classical, Folk and Rock, but away from the usual canons of the Prog Folk genre, dominated by Hawken's piano. The group's debut album was released in early 70 on the en-vogue Island label and came with an absolutely superb Fall Of Icarus artwork on a gatefold sleeve. Opening on their cornerstone or flagship piece, the 11-mins Kings And Queens, the album opens on the symbolic Hawken piano overture, before the group kicks in, Cennamo's amazing bass often doubling Hawken's classical-borrowed parts, thus reinforcing his dominance. Jane's voice offers quite a nice contrast to her brother Keith, and they give a credible folkish feel. Although not flawless, this is nevertheless a full blown prog epic, with all the future clichés present. Great stuff. It is followed by a no-less impressive 7-mins Innocence, built in the same mould, which I like more. Somehow it is understandable that the group is so dominated by Hawken's keyboards, because Relf's lead guitar skills are not very developed as he always had to play previously behind future guitar legends. Live, it seems that Keith was a tad more prominent than in the studio mix.

The 6-mins Island is a much folkier (and delicious) track, even if its also featuring Hawken and Cennamo's classical borrowings, sung lead by Jane and an abridged version would grace an accompanying single, while the only track written by Hawken (with McCarty on lyrics), the 4-mins Wanderer is a bit of a departure and a foray into Celtic-type folk, with Hawken playing the harpsichord and Jane's awesome vocals in the second part. The album closes on the 11-mins+ Bullet, a moody and darker track that was designed for featuring Prokofiev themes in a slightly more psych/spacey setting with psalm-like backing-vocals and Keith's harmonica (regularly used in The Yarbirds) I'm sure this piece was used for frame individual solos live.

My personal favorite of the group (all eras considered), as three Yardbirds are involved (who would've thought that possible?). Relf, McCarthy and Samwell-Smith, the latter on production, evolve from blues caterpillar into prog butterfly. Intense and beautiful. Jane Relf has nothing to envy to Annie Haslam, either. If you haven't had a chance to find out about the original Renaissance group, do jump on the superb Repertoire mini-Lp reissue that comes with two bonus tracks, from a non-album single, where an abridged version of Island and the original The Sea tracks are well within the album's spectrum and added excellent value. This album also comes sometimes with other bonus tracks (and a different artwork), the Together pieces written by Relf and McCarty prior to this album, but these are simply not fitting with the album’s musical realm. Historically important, this album is an often over-looked gem by most Haslam-Dunford fans. Essential stuff.

#31

Ummagumma
Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd Ummagumma album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

Pink Floyd Live and in the Studio were parallel universes at polar opposites. Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma' is half excellent, half challenging. The Hipgnosis cover depicts two parallel universes and in a sense that is what we have here. Two albums at polar opposites from one another. One album is incredible, rich with dark textures and free form jamming with cosmic space rock at its highest peak. Interestingly, the two pictures on the cover depict two different Floyd leaders; one is of Gilmour leading as the dominant figure, and the other has Waters in the chair, and this is prophetic as the band eventually split into two Pink Floyd groups with these men as leaders.

The live album showcases the band in full flight in a concert experience where they are allowed to fly into the stratosphere. The best live version of 'Astronomy Domine' is played with incredible energy and a divine lead solo. This live version has a wondrous instrumental section.

Recorded in 1969, the band launch into a fabulous lengthy version of the chilling 'Careful with that Axe Eugene', with a manic Waters at his sinister best who screams bloody murder as Gilmour's guitar soars and wails, and Wrights' keyboards swell and ascend into the heavens. The sound is astonishing with sonic reverberances and a dominating resonance that may scare off a lot of listeners, but nevertheless it is powerful prog.

'Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun' is brooding with bottom end bass and a very ominous melody, streets ahead of the studio version and totally psychedelic. 'A Saucerful of Secrets' is once again a better version of this enigmatic classic with kinetic energy and jaw dropping guitar. The experimental creativity is flowing constantly and the live experience was never captured so well in1969.

The studio album is a veritable bag of unnerving psych prog, and mind jarring trippy hallucinatory passages. 'Sysyphus' is the best track on it; a 4 part feast of keyboard wizardry by Wright with mellotron and effects. 'Grantchester Meadows' is a Waters experiment and the best thing about 'Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict' is the overlong title that only true Floydians are able to remember. It is impossible to describe except to say it is all animal noises and experimental effects.

'Narrow Way' is more experimentalism but this time Gilmour tries his hand at freaking us out. 'Grand Vizier's Garden Party' is drummer Mason's ditty, and he even roped in his wife to try playing flute passages. He adds tape loops for effect and unearthly sounds that are disquietening at best.

So that's “Ummagumma” half a delight, half a fright, but it was the best Floyd album until “Meddle” arrived.

A review by Finnforest:

Dedicated to Rick, gentle man, wonderful musician

Overview: A common misconception perpetuated over the years is that the live half of this album is essential while the studio portion is rubbish. That is absolutely wrong in my view. It is the studio half of Ummagumma that is important for its wild experimentations that would make it one of the most important, influential and liberating releases to many bands in the 1970s. Tangerine Dream and Cluster cited the album as a direct influence. It is the studio album that marked the progress of this band at this point in time. It was also successful to the hard core Floyd fans of the day and sold very well for a record company that had no idea what to make of it. One writer doing a positive review for WYWH called it their best work since Ummagumma, meaning Umma was being placed higher than everything between it and Wish. I'm not going that far as I find Atom Heart more successfully captured a spirit of experimentation with melodies that are more pleasurable for repeat listening, as did Dark Side. But make no mistake: the true Pink Floyd fan who considers him/herself a "progressive" rock fan needs to hear this important link in the growth of one of music's finest recording units. I will discuss the studio album at some length but the live album, while entertaining, should really be considered a bonus disc. It is a snapshot of the Floyd covering material they were genuinely bored with playing by this time, including a terribly mistaken attempt at a Syd track that does not work (and how could it, really?) Still it's certainly a nice disc to have despite the sound problems and my assertion that the studio album is the bang here.

People often use the latter day Floyd members disowning of this period as a reason to reject it which is another common mistake. While the old men of PF may consider themselves too distinguished for such excursions these days you have to ignore their revisionism and look back and read the quotes from their press clippings at the time. The fact is that the Floyd were excited about this material, about the chance to create their own piece and about having material to try live that was less structured than past albums would be. As Rick said in early 1969 "we are getting into a live rut..we're going to force ourselves to do new things." Did they ever!! Though I'm not sure much of this album made the live set, the band was off into AHM mode shortly after the release of Ummagumma. While they may have soured on these heady days in later life there is no reason their fans need to. If anything the early albums represent PF at their most exciting and most interesting. They would later claim the album could have been better had they taken more time and worked more together than separate. This is possibly true although given that Ummagumma represents their experimental peak why regret that it was made differently? It seems fitting and gives the pieces unique character.

Press: Patrick, The Pink Floyd Fandom website: "At their peak of their most psychedelic musical experimentation comes my favorite Pink Floyd album: Ummagumma. The studio album shows what each artist was capable of as an individual during the maturing of the group as a whole. I believe that it gives a great portrait of each member as a soloing artist. It is this individual soloing which then allowed the band to create long masterpieces (Atom Heart Mother etc.) where playing together and understanding each other musically is so important. Ummagumma is definitely an important piece of the puzzle of Pink Floyd, both as a building block and as a work of art everyone can enjoy."

UK's Record Mirror, Nov 1969: "a truly great progressive album. They mix psychedelic and classical patterns, and explore sounds, music, and gimmicks to their fullest extent. The recordings are beautiful."

International Times, Oct 1969: "an essential purchase for anyone who has ever got into the Floyd..these two albums are a really magnificent package. The first disc comprises four pieces from their live repertoire beautifully played and well produced."

The Music: The most interesting thing about Ummagumma is that it is Wright and Mason who really excel here. Their two sections are the best while Water's stuff is the weakest. That is a trend that would not continue but it is a reminder that PF remained very much a "group" until after Dark Side and that Wright was a potent force at this moment. It reminds that prior to the Waters led heyday of 1973-1983 the other members of the band often had good ideas too and led rather than simply taking orders.

Richard Wright: Wright more than any of them embraced the spirit of Ummagumma and the results show it. He had been telling the others that he was ready to make some "real music" as he'd been the only one with formal training, albeit brief. His 4-part concerto is called "Sysyphus" - the title of which was taken from a Greek myth about a soul condemned to hell. The music is quite dramatic as you'd imagine beginning with murky Gothic flavored dirge announcing doom and gloom. In part 2 things lighten considerably as we move to some gorgeous piano playing, among Wright's nicest moments in the band's cannon. The emotion of his solo piano is palpable to me, fresh, alive, buoyant. I imagine the piece to be about the passive reflections of a young man looking at the life and death process, the section starts with peace and sunny vibes and slowly escalates into chaos, perhaps signaling madness and death. The 3rd part shifts gears as Wright borrows some of Mason's pots and pans and Waters' small furry animals for some general mischief-making. In the last part Wright stretches out with what I believe is mellotron over bird sounds creating some relaxing moments once again before the mood crashes again with heavy organ and percussion, eventually leading us back to the doomy march of the first part. While he later felt the work was "pretentious" there was no reason for shame: "Sysyphus" remains one of the hard core Floyd fan's many truly wonderful gems and was no doubt a great experience for the undervalued hero of the band.

Roger Waters: Roger's "Granchester Meadows" is an ultra-pastoral ode to a special place in his past employing mainly acoustic guitar and double-tracked voice. Sound effects of nature are also used throughout to create the bucolic mood of the lyrics. Along with "If" on the next album these pieces are not convincing and have to qualify as among Water's most underwhelming work. It's no wonder he doesn't like Ummagumma, his material is the weakest on the album. The problem with Granchester is that it just lays there. It doesn't really pack the beauty needed to convey the feeling of the place in his mind and the singing is so whispered as to be nearly inaudible unless one can get to the volume to crank it up. He follows this with the all time gimmick track "Several Species" which every teen thrills to two times in their life: the first time they hear it, and the second time when they play it for their best friend. While an impressive exercise in the construction of those effects the track is one you will likely skip when you play this album. Water's used his voice and drumming away on his own body as the origins of the sounds and then altered tape speed and used echo to create the piece. The coolest part of the track is the way he seems to create conversations between the creatures and you can imagine the dialogue as they scuttle about alarmed with some unseen threat. He would comment that "The Final Cut" meant a hell of a lot more to him that "Ummagumma" and that's fine, but not every album has to have heavy conceptual, literal overtones. Occasionally people like to let their imaginations roam with abstract sound- or at least they used to.

David Gilmour: The 3-part "The Narrow Way" was Dave's contribution to the studio side of Ummagumma and like Waters, Dave has claimed it is basically bits and pieces of fooling around that he hadn't listened to in years. He recalled being so mortified with the idea of writing his lyrics for this piece that he phoned Roger and asked for help; Roger of course told him NO and to get on with it himself. As with the Waters tracks I find some feelings of contrivance with portions of Dave's contribution, for whatever reason Wright and Mason's works just seems so much more natural and successful. But "The Narrow Way" does have fine moments too. Part 1 finds Dave easing in slowly with his back-porch acoustic ramblings accented by some oddly Syd-sounding slide flourishes (think the "Remember a Day" scrapings) Part 2 is really cool in the way the mood taps into what Wright was doing on the sinister gothic parts of Sysyphus. Dave comes up with a doomy riff that almost sounds like a bit of Sabbath and gives the album a feel of recurring themes that add some depth. Part 3 is the payoff for most Floyd fans though with a drop-dead gorgeous, smooth Gilmour vocal played off of some delicate piano. It's the one moment of Ummagumma that provides some melodic oasis to the mainstream Floyd fan wondering what the hell they just got themselves into here. It could fit in effortlessly among the tracks on Meddle.

Nick Mason: "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party" is a fitting title for such a grand little piece which begins and ends with some lovely baroque flute sections performed by Mason's wife Libby. The beefier mid section called "Entertainment" is a truly insane collage piece constructed with percussion and tape effects and perhaps influenced by Stockhausen. Of note here is the over the top stereo-separation which surely blew the mind of many a stoned music fanatic playing this album in the dark after sparking up. Mason's piece is truly quite erratic and disruptive to one's expectations of what Pink Floyd *should* sound like and hearing it for the first time can be difficult. It needs to be approached without expectations of the typical drum solo. Like the others Mason is a bit dismissive of his work these days which is unfortunate, in his mind apparently polishing fancy cars is a more important endeavor than experimentations in sound. But I love the little percussion call and answer he does with these little rolls around the 5 minute mark. Sure it's not the highlight of progressive rock but then Mason will admit he was never the world's great drummer. I give him much credit for going with the spirit of the album rather than playing it safe.

Conclusion: The funny thing about Ummagumma is that it's the ace in the hole of the long time Floyd fan. Once you have heard Dark Side and Animals and Meddle to death for decades and have every note imprinted to memory, Ummagumma serves as a choice reservoir for some vintage moments of Pink Floyd that sound strangely fresh the older and more patient one becomes. Who would have guessed that fresh on the heels of Wright's tragic early death it would be this album, written off by many as irrelevant, that would provide me with some real "lump in the throat" tribute listening for Rick and for a time when the Floyd were a real band: Rick's majestic piano clashing with the doomy organ in one of his most poignant and unrestrained moments in Pink Floyd. Dave's peaceful "pillow of wind" voice floating you away as gorgeous as any vocal he ever did. Nick's ode to Stockhausen sandwiched between wife Libby's beautiful flute parts providing a wild ride on the stereo-separation roller coaster. It's a treasure chest of little moments that are the very essence of what "progressive music" fans claim to be about-opening their minds and accepting that which isn't always an easy hum.

Ummagumma falls well short of a masterpiece but remains a crucial step in the evolution of a musical force. The band would improve on the next album by incorporating more accessibility into what was still sound experiment. They would then move away from this phase of splendid curiosities and into the realm of the '70s music machine which would have its own set of peaks and valleys. But any progger who purports to be a Floyd fan must eventually come to terms with Ummagumma and see the pearls that hide there. And I'm not talking about the live disc, which again, should really just be considered a bonus disc on this release. In a time when many of the most popular "progressive" bands are slick, predictable and little more than elaborate pop music with syrupy vocals/sentiments, it is somewhat refreshing to revisit a time and place when something like Ummagumma could actually be released by a major label. When a band could be both popular and on the edge.

#32

A Salty Dog
Procol Harum

Procol Harum A Salty Dog album cover

A review by AtomicCrimsonRush:

The nautical thematic content on this third Procol Harum album is prevalent beginning with seagulls on the beach and a captain’s musings on his sexual exploits in ‘A Salty Dog’; or is it double innuendo about a mutiny on a sailing vessel? The title track has become a quintessential part of the band’s catalogue as have many on this rather uneven album.

‘The Milk of Human Kindness’ is an interesting throwaway for the band. It works okay rhythmically but not an outstanding track. ‘Too Much Between Us’ has a melancholy tranquillity with Brooker’s more gentler falsetto on vocals. This leads to a more upbeat sound on ‘The Devil Came from Kansas’, with Trower exceptional on guitar. This one grew on me over time especially the crashing two notes in the verses building to an infectious chorus.

‘Boredom’, a flute and glockenspiel driven whimsical song, and the ultra bluesy Juicy John Pink, are tracks suffering from poor production quality, but they lead to the wonderful ‘Wreck of the Hesperus’, one of the great Procol Harum tracks sung by Fisher. The piano is a dominant instrument and the song is strengthened by a back beat of percussion shapes and a melodic guitar. The brass permeates the instrumental break giving a majestic feel. It ends with the shipwreck sounds lending an effective atmosphere.

‘All This and More’ is Brooker on vocals and more driving piano and Trower’s everpresent guitar licks. ‘Crucifiction Lane’ is very slow and bluesy with a melancholic melody line. The album ends with ‘Pilgrims Progress’ finalising the nautical themes of alienation or loneliness on an open sea and searching for answers. The organ sound on this last track is more familiar to those who know the ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ sound, especially the tempo and overall feel.

The album is inconsistent in terms of quality but this is still a good album showing the development of prog rock in its early phase.

Edited by AtomicCrimsonRush - February 07 2012 at 05:22