Traditional Themes In Prog-Rock

Well, that's good, but Prog music is Prog in every way...

In my opinion the real prog band nowadays are groups as Godspeed You Black Emperor, Ulver etc, surely not IQ, Pallas et similia...

 Stormcrow wrote:

"Peter, what do you think of BLACKMORE's NIGHT?"

 Good stuff, Storm. Kudos to Richie B. and wife for creating some very lovely music. I especially like their "Wind in the Willows" with Strawbs' John Ford.

Great music for mellow weekend mornings and afternoons! 

Peter Rideout wrote:  Stormcrow wrote: "Peter, what do you think of BLACKMORE's NIGHT?"  Good stuff, Storm. Kudos to Richie B. and wife for creating some very lovely music. I especially like their "Wind in the Willows" with Strawbs' John Ford. Great music for mellow weekend mornings and afternoons!

We are in accord.  Scary, huh? 

I think Candice has a beautiful voice.  And who knew Ritchie was such a bitchin' lute player???

I let my Tae Kwon Do instructors (husband & wife team) borrow my BLACKMORE'S NIGHT CD's and they also became instant fans and went out and bought the complete catalog.

I have started reading Homer's Odyssey for the first time. I have heard many wonderful things about it, and perhaps it will be fodder for my creative soul. After all, I like to write lyrics, and perhaps the odyssey will be an inspiration.

(we should have a thread devoted to lyrics alone)

Vibrationbaby wrote: For me it's musical prowess first and foremost. I think the lyrical references to the arts, science, history etc can get a little cheezy at times, prog is full of bad poetry!

 The lyrical subject-matter is simply part of what prog is. Either you really like prog, or you don't. To fully appreciate fantasy, sci-f, horror mythology, etc, requires that you willingly engage in a "suspension of disbelief -- that is, turn off your manly cynicism that only wants to deal with the "real" or immediately relevant, and simply accept the rules or preconditions of the artform as a "given." If, for example, you can't read or watch "The Lord of the Rings" without thinking along the lines of "This is silly. There aren't any elves or hobbits or wizards. Magic isn't real!" then you can't enjoy the book or movie. Mainstream rock and pop, rap etc. has lyrics about more mundane, everyday subject matter. Prog artists will sing about deeper/fantastic (as in "of fantasy")/spiritual, etc, subjects and themes. If you want to hear about cars and girls, check out some Beachboys. If you want to hear about Tibetan spirituality, or the Book of Revelations, or a future where an oppressive government controls all aspects of its citizens' lives (hey, that could never happen here on earth, right?), or an astronaut lost in space, check out some prog. If you simply can't "take" such subject-matter, then read a truck magazine, or a newspaper, and listen to other music. Even within prog, there is a great range of lyrical content, and even instrumental music to be had!

Many men, in particular, take a certain macho pride in not reading fiction, justifying themselves along the lines of "It's not real. What use is it to me?" Fiction's "use," of course, is to entertain, first and foremost. But by taking us away from our immediate surroundings to another time/place, we are made to look at our own world in a different light, and we learn a lot about human interaction and character in the process. Not all insight into the human condition comes from science and history. Novelists know things too. I can't be a little girl in Iran, but reading a novel written by an Iranian about such a character can be the next best thing. 

This is not meant to be an insult, or an analysis of your personality (I don't know you, nor you, me), but it seems to me to be pointless to complain about the nature and conventions of an artform that is independent of our opinions.

Don't like Jon Anderson's lyrics? Don't listen to Yes. But don't tell me that the words that inspire and move me (and others) are "cheesy." We all like different things. If you are home watching football, while I am watching "Pirates of the Caribean," what of it? Am I therefore less grounded in reality that you, or do I fall outside your defintion of what it means to be a man? Should we all like the same things?

Peter Rideout wrote: Don't like Jon Anderson's lyrics? Don't listen to Yes. But don't tell me that the words that inspire and move me (and others) are "cheesy." We all like different things. If you are home watching football, while I am watching "Pirates of the Caribean," what of it? Am I therefore less grounded in reality that you, or do I fall outside your defintion of what it means to be a man? Should we all like the same things?

Peter - I like both prog rock and football.  But who could make the case that football (or hockey or baseball or soccer or basketball or auto racing or whichever) has any more relevence to reality than does prog or jazz or reading novels?

It's all just choices on personal preference on how one escapes reality for a few minutes.

To me at least, to claim superior machismo by choosing one form of escapism over another is simply thoughtless.

Of course there are those, and I won't try to refute them, who will claim that playing organized sports teaches certain cooperative skills that can be applied in ones life in reality.  Having played organized sports I think this may be true.  But how more so than, for instance, learning to play music within a secondary school orchestra or a jazz combo or a progressive rock band?  Having done some of that as well, I would say no more at all.

Labeling people because of their choices in escapism is no more than making excuses for an absence of thought and understanding.

I've recently gotten into a rather acrimonious arguement (in another non-music oriented forum) about whether or not reading for pleasure it's self was or was not (in the words of the person I was arguing with) "queer".  Being a very avid reader of fiction myself, I was of course rather taken aback that the idea of reading for pleasure could be considered abnormal. 

But no amount of arguement, right down to pointing out that reading was what the non-reading proponent was doing on his computer screen, could sway him away from his (to me) completely wrong-headed position.  I simply have to reach the conclusion that there are people out there who have found a comfortable place where their mind can safely ossify and a new idea need never frighten them again.