Also while I'm here, I'd like to thank ProgArchives for helping me find so many crazy bands!

I made a decision to plunge head first into progressive rock after listening to some gorgeous tinkling Phish jam (like a Simple/Reba/Hood/Slave/Roggae style beauty jam) and realiZing I had no concept of any other bands that sounded that way. I've spent the last year or so immersing myself in bands that I've found here, on RateYourMusic (shout out to AshraTom! I'm on board with you on everything but the Midwest America/Ontario stuff lol) - especially one guys lists where he basically lists every progressive band in every country. Oh, and the God, Pierro Scaruffi.

I'm mainly into the more coherent/melodic Zeuhl stuff, along with some of the more psychedelically romantic sounding Italian and South American bands, loving some of these great German bands I never heard despite being really into the more motorik krautrock stuff forever, Quebec had a spectacular scene in the 70s with their folky weirdness..France is my favorite though. So many amazing bands. No slight to the "Canterbury scene" who probably produced my favorite bands outside of King Crimson. Avant Prog can go either way for me, kinda like free jazz I like it immensely when it's either more spacey or more rhythmic and isn't too screechy (and it's always been a shame to me that the free jazz tended so strongly towards expressing itself in screechy wailing, but I guess that's a product of its times)- finding prog rock that reminds me of the restrained nature of post rock (but 20 years earlier!) makes my day. I had generally avoided anything past the early 80s because I feel like the main influences became Rush ( who I dig) and Porcupine Tree (who I decidedly do not) along with a lot of metal, bombast and technical skill for the sake of technical skill.. But lately ive been crazy impressed with the newer avant prog and Zeuhl stuff I'm finding. Not everything turned into Marillon style fluff or endless finger tapping nonsense and macho posturing! Score!

So in essence, I never really found anything that sounded like a clear antecedent to a Harry Hood jam, but I do have a two terabyte hard drive filled up (for research purposes only!) with tons of prog, psych, jazz , avant garde and modern/minimal classical, and the vast majority of it all is stuff I hadn't heard of two years ago.

My plan as it sits now, is to make a series of a few dozen mixes that start with a Phish song, then fade out of the improvisational portion and into a succession of arranged snippets of obscure music..and then drop these on my Phish fan friends like a bomb. Most of these kids have great taste in music but a massive blind spot where prog should be, and it's silly that they should like so much highly inventive music but not know who Gentle Giant or Hatfield And The North are! They'll know soon enough once I blow their minds!

Great. Now you guys have me wanting to check out Phish. I thought they were just a Grateful Dead stoner wannabe band?

Edited by Jeffro - March 24 2015 at 08:43

They're s.h.i.t.e and burn kittens live on stage

I guess I'm just interested in how prog a band has to be in ordered to be considered progressive... lol

Check this out guys:

Prog is not a badge of honour. It's not even a guarantee for good music nor great imagination. Some of the most progressive artists out there are not prog. 

Alright then

I think Punch You in the Eye as well as Weekapaug Groove deserve a mention too. The latter often goes places during live executions, like the one in January this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5U2K_iN_lU

Phish in the PA pantheon and still no Grateful Dead, more's the pity.  The Dead were so much more inventive.....so much more PROGRESSIVE. 

AreYouHuman wrote: Yes, definitely not a Grateful Dead knockoff and much more inventive than the “jam band” tag would lead some to believe.  Right now I’m listening to the “Live in Brooklyn” version of The Divided Sky which wanders heavily into prog territory.   I’ve long felt that many hardcore Phish Heads could be easily turned onto, say, early Caravan albums like Grey and Pink, Girl Who Grow Plump, Waterloo Lily, etc., or early Camel or maybe Soft Machine or other classic 70s prog albums if they had the opportunity.

Phish phans know and love prog almost as much as anyone here. If you check out any of the band's forums, like Phish.net/forum there are discussions about Canterbury, Zappa, Dream Theater, Yes, King Crimson, Soft Machine, Gentle Giant, jazz fusion, and modern prog too.

It's the other way around. Prog fans, or just anyone unfamiliar with their music, will hear 'jam band' and think Grateful Dead/southern blues/noodling guitar music, when actually Phish's music is sophisticated, of its time and ahead of its time, at the same time.