David Greenslade released a cd in association with Terry Prachett. Maybe he was still in his 50's then but, it's the kind of futuristic direction I like to see Greenslade going in. Rod Argent could release a keyboard album of Progressive Rock instrumental pieces and truly expand upon what he wrote previously. Instead he tours with The Zombies and releases a Classical cd.....which is fine however, he has talent to come up with original progressive rock ideas that maybe do not derive from the band Argent or even others of the genre.

If some of the artists you mentioned followed the path that many jazz/fusion writers often do, then it would be more pleasing to me personally. For example, the first day I heard "The Heart Of Things" by John McLaughlin. I'm like a little kid with this stuff. I stood in the kitchen and actually thought ..."That SOB! He took every one of his influences and expanded further on guitar and composition. On this cd, he plays a style more in the vain of maybe Pat Metheny. For me, it was a completely different McLaughlin. A more expanded one in the universal sense. Metheny may not even be a good comparision as it's really just McLaughlin expanding. A different lifetime than Mahavishnu or Extrapolation. The album actually has a flow like the band Passport but, without electronics. He just blew me away and I thought....more progressive rock masters should follow this path and express a new identity. Their identity connected with their reputation will socially rule in most cases but, these guys have the ability to go beyond all of that. They have made attempts in later years but, don't seem to stick with it. Emerson and Lake for me personally is not much about expanding but more about re-hashing the past. It's wonderful for younger people who have yet to see Keith or Greg in any format but, for example, I would rather see Greg Lake do a folk/prog album or Emerson write new instrumental ideas that are maybe influenced from different musical cultual backgrounds but display him expanding universally as a writer. Just in the same way that McLaughlin did.

Chris Squire released a solo effort based on choir music. I have yet to hear it. I know that he did sing in the church choir as a boy and maybe the music is interesting from that perspective. Even though he persists with a new YES band, at least he tried with a new musical departure of some sort. I would prefer seeing our prog greats tour off a new album and not continue to vamp the same identity role they did in the 70's. It should be a situation where an older artist has recorded a new album and is touring off that album and with no questions asked. No hecklers asking for older material. Like "Hey Keith!"...."while your at it, how about whipping out some excerpts from Tarkus?" They should be taken more seriously and widely excepted in the sense that the fans are at the show just to hear material from the new album and not caring so much about material from their past. It doesn't seem to happen that often. I have not witnessed fans of McLaughlin screaming for "Birds of Fire" (although I could be wrong), it seems the fans except his new contributions by buying the release a few weeks before his show, enjoying it, and longing to see it performed live. There should also be a little less of father and son tours and more of artists touring with new material.

I was aware of Karl Jenkins having turned to a "classical music" composer but Mike Ratledge ?

 

Karl Jenkins :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jenkins - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Jenkins