Political Prog |
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David_D
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^^ One of the PA members has this interpretation of Niemen's "Four Walls of the World": "the Wall represents unmoveable government oppression and different folks' responses to a Wall of Pain." I find this interpretation to be rather good, but I think that instead of government, it's better to say that the wall represents the Party (PZPR), or maybe even the political or the whole system. But I can also be in doubt about whether Czeslaw Niemen, the greatest Polish Rock star at that time, would be stating such heavy criticism, even in a symbolic way. Edit: As far as I understand it, it's also okay to tell that it's Cindy's interpretation.
Edited by David_D - July 28 2024 at 08:25 |
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David_D
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According to Scott Bullock, Neil Peart considers himself to be a "left-wing libertarian", and that's probably not only a bit right-wing. (So tells Durrell Bowman in "Let Them All Make Their Own Music". in Progressive Rock Reconsidered, 2002, p. 193)
Edited by David_D - July 29 2024 at 11:29 |
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David_D
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The original Polish title of "Four Walls of the World" is "Cztery Sciany Swiata", and it may be easily associated with "cztery strony swiata" which is the Polish expression for the four directions of the world: East, West, North and South. Having this as a starting point for the interpretation of the song, it may be more obvious with another one than the quoted. I may be even more in doubt with a political interpretation of Niemen's "Strange Is This World", even I don't really think that song is about human nature. I don't know that much about Czeslaw Niemen, but I think of him as more concerned with human beings in general, or the mankind, than with politics. |
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David_D
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^ If the title "Four Walls of the World" is also meant to be associated with the four directions of the world, the afore-mentioned interpretation could be defended if changed to concerning the whole world-widespread marxism/communism/socialism the way it had been practiced by regimes. Such an interpretation can also be supported by the red, or even blood-red, wall on the coverart and not least in the eyes of the depicted face. However, stating such heavy criticism is even harder to me to believe, even there was a quite strong oppositional movement emerging in Poland in the mid-'70s, which was mostly leftist though. Edited by David_D - August 02 2024 at 07:50 |
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David_D
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It may be a good idea to post here those lyrics again: Niemen Aerolit - "Four Walls of the World" In front of the wall of sound stand the deaf ones They pray to the music When you don't desire, when you have to Better be nobody In front of the wailing wall stand the clowns They laugh at their own shadows' twitches And their laughter is empty, their laughter is terrible Better be nobody In front of the wall of light stand the blind ones And they look without blinking About what shines, they know better Than an ordinary man A hero stands in front of the wall of execution Looks the executioners in the eyes Smokes his last cigarette On the edge of the night There is a world made of walls growing upwards In it the word loses its value I stand in front of an ordinary wall And I bang my head against it And I bang my head against it |
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Hrychu
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LIBERALISM a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual source Edited by Hrychu - August 02 2024 at 12:20 |
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“On the day of my creation, I fell in love with education. And overcoming all frustration, a teacher I became.”
— Ernest Vong |
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David_D
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I'm rather sure that someone like Ian Anderson would say, at least in the '70s, that in relation to capitalism, it's just some (bad) theory. |
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moshkito
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Hi,
Screw politics! I stand to the right of Aphrodite and to the left of Chuck Amuck!
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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David_D
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As said so many times before, easy to stay away.
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David_D
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Here's the original version of Niemen's "Dziwny Jest Ten Swiat" translated to English by Google Translate and slightly corrected by me, as I think it's better than the English version quoted in this thread before: Czeslaw Niemen - "Strange Is This World" where still so much evil resides. And strange is that for so many years, Man has despised Man. Strange is this world, the world of human affairs, sometimes it is embarrassing to admit it. And yet it is often the case that someone kills with an evil word as if with a knife. But there are most people of the good will and I strongly believe that this world will never perish thanks to them. No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! The time has come, it is high time to destroy hatred in yourself. (from the album Strange Is This World (1967)) Not Prog but it's a great song and to me, it's first and foremost about the belief that despite all the evil, the "people of the good will" will ensure the further existence of the human world. Edit: Or it's maybe more an appeal to conflicting parts to overcome hatred, compromise and solve the conflicts - a kind of flower power message.
Edited by David_D - August 04 2024 at 05:19 |
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moshkito
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Hi, That's OK ... you can play the ostrich in my book ... without even knowing/understanding each situation. I have posted my details and stories in a couple of places, but some folks like you are not specially attuned to reading for the important details. I'm not some kind of lunatic wanting bullets flying over my head day and night ... literal or figuratively ... as Sam Kenniston said about the poor blacks in Africa ... get them a suitcase! ... I imagine that for you "political prog" is just another comic book idea with pictures for you to enjoy! It makes better sense on your comments!
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Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
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David_D
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I'd say, "Strange Is This World" is a political song, broadly defined, in the matter of its concern, and also because ideologically speaking, it expresses liberalistic stressing of the power of people's will. |
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David_D
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Alphataurus - s/t (1973), I don't know what the lyrics are about on this album, but the artwork definitely tells that it's at least partly anti-war
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David_D
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Aphrodite's Child - 666 (1972) As I see it, there's some stuff in this double, concept album made in the time of military junta in Greece (1967-74), which can be interpreted and considered as political. Edited by David_D - August 12 2024 at 14:47 |
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David_D
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Jethro Tull - "Wind-Up", critical in relation to organized religion in UK, Aqualung (1971) Yes - "The Gates of Delirium", this side-long epic is about absurdity of the Vietnam war, Relayer (1974) Edited by David_D - August 14 2024 at 16:57 |
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David_D
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Genesis - "Harold the Barrel", including some criticism of media, Nursery Cryme (1971)
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David_D
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More Genesis - "Supper's Ready" (part iii and iv), including a very strong anti-war statement, Foxtrot (1972)
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David_D
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A Finnish Prog site has a very fine review of Being, and a part of it says: "Being is a theme album, but it
represents the section of concept albums where the actual theme is very
difficult to sum up in a few words. It is a kind of study of the clashes
between different social classes and ideologies. With a strong sarcastic and black
humour touch. Some of the lyrics, which mocked communism, were rejected by the
Love Records label, which had a very strong left-wing slant.
................... The lyrics
on the resulting album are very cynical and dark. Mankind, destroying itself
and its environment in its stupid greed, is given little mercy in Gustavson’s
lyrics. Pembroke’s ’Petty-Bourgeois’, ’Maestro Mercy’ and ’Marvelry Skimmer’ at
least lighten the atmosphere a little. The darkest
track on the album is Pohjola’s ”Pride of the Biosphere” where Gustavson’s
lyrics have a military chaplain telling stories in a squeaky voice about how
officers used to rape the waitresses in a military canteen and then shoot them.
In the background, the devout organ theme of the Pohjola plays in sarcastic
contrast." ( https://pienemmatpurot.com/2024/02/03/review-wigwam-being-1974/ )
Edited by David_D - August 30 2024 at 17:32 |
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David_D
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^ Actually, I think it's most fair to post this review here in its entirety: Being is the fourth studio album by Wigwam, founded in Finland in 1968. Wigwam’s
first three albums contain many great moments, but each of them is rather
uneven as a whole. Being transforms all of this into a
full set of one exquisite composition after another, forming a very coherent
whole. Being is a theme album, but it represents the section
of concept albums where the actual theme is very difficult to sum up in a few
words. It is a kind of study of the clashes between different social classes
and ideologies. With a strong sarcastic and black humour touch. Some of the
lyrics, which mocked communism, were rejected by the Love Records label, which
had a very strong left-wing slant. The mastermind behind the whole concept of Being was keyboardist/vocalist Jukka Gustavson, but he did not write and compose all the songs on the album alone, but shared the workload with bassist Pekka Pohjola and keyboardist/vocalist Jim Pembroke, who wrote the songs according to Gustavson’s loose instructions. Some of the compositions had been written before the concept of Being was conceived, but Gustavson then modified them as best he could to make them fit better into the whole. The lyrics
on the resulting album are very cynical and dark. Mankind, destroying itself
and its environment in its stupid greed, is given little mercy in Gustavson’s
lyrics. Pembroke’s ’Petty-Bourgeois’, ’Maestro Mercy’ and ’Marvelry Skimmer’ at
least lighten the atmosphere a little. The darkest
track on the album is Pohjola’s ”Pride of the Biosphere” where Gustavson’s
lyrics have a military chaplain telling stories in a squeaky voice about how
officers used to rape the waitresses in a military canteen and then shoot them.
In the background, the devout organ theme of the Pohjola plays in sarcastic
contrast. Pohjola later recycled the same melody in a less haunting mood on his
own album Keesojen lehto (1977). Being was a major project for
Wigwam, carefully built over the course of a year. Although the actual studio
time was only about a month. Which was a lot for a Finnish rock band at that
time. Usually, Finnish rock albums were recorded in a week or even less. Wigwam had
already taken clear steps towards more progressive music with their previous
album Fairyport (1971) and this trend is only confirmed
with Being. The songs are more complex and the instrumental
performances more virtuosic. However,
like many other progressive bands, Wigwam didn’t set out to build songs of
colossal length, but Being consists mostly of short 2-4 minute
songs. The only exceptions are the 9 minute ”Pedagogue” and the 6 minute
”Prophet”. On the other hand, some of the songs form suites of their own, i.e.
some of the songs are tied together by seamlessly stitching them together. Being’s compositions are so dense and
full of musical information and ideas that many a mediocre prog band would have
built a 20 minute epic out of them. Indeed, Being’s short but
extremely complex pieces are more akin to the music of Gentle Giant and especially Henry Cow than to the more leisurely
symphonic arcs of, say, Yes or Genesis. Jukka
Gustavson’s beloved soul influences add their own piquant flavour not often
heard in prog. Being sounds a bit like what Henry Cow might
sound like if Stevie Wonder had been a member of the band. The
respected British music critic Ian Mcdonald went further than
me in his comparison and wrote in praise of the album, describing the music as
sounding like the aforementioned Stevie Wonder meets Frank Zappa’s
Mother Of Invention and Robert Wyatt, all directed by composer Arnold
Schoenberg. Yes, I could subscribe to that too. The more
complex compositions by Gustavson and Pohjola alternate in a balanced way with
Pembroke’s slightly lighter pieces (which are not simple tunes either). It’s a
really effective solution and the whole thing even feels surprisingly coherent.
Although the original composition of the songs can be clearly traced back to
one man, all the songs, after going through the arrangement/recording grinder,
have become specifically Wigwam music. The most
challenging aspect of Being is represented by Gustavson’s
compositions, especially ”Pedagogue” and ”Prophet”, which are not only
rhythmically complex, but also constantly evolving and deftly evading the
normal pop formula of musical repetition. ”Pedagogue”
has its roots in the three-minute single ”Pedagogi”, released a couple of years
earlier, but on Being Gustavson modified and expanded the
composition significantly and the link to the original version is barely
recognisable. The beautifully sounding ”Pedagogue”, which is full of changes in
tempo, features brass arrangements by Pekka Pohjola that are a treat to listen
to and bring to mind not only Pohjola’s idol Frank Zappa, but also Pohjola’s
own first solo albums. In the context of Being, the arrangements
could have worked a bit more sharply, though. Gustavson’s effervescent and
nimble-fingered soloing on a Fender electric piano is also particularly
stunning in ’Pedagogue’. The song also features a soprano saxophone solo
from Pekka Pöyry. ( https://pienemmatpurot.com/2024/02/03/review-wigwam-being-1974/ ) Edited by David_D - August 31 2024 at 06:10 |
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David_D
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^ It's a very fine review, but it finds that "The lyrics on the resulting album are very cynical and dark. Mankind, destroying itself and its environment in its stupid greed, is given little mercy in Gustavson’s lyrics.", and I can't see in which way the lyrics are cynical. Edited by David_D - September 01 2024 at 05:07 |
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