Bowie does prog
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Forum Name: Proto-Prog and Prog-Related Lounge
Forum Description: Discuss bands and albums classified as Proto-Prog and Prog-Related
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72740
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Topic: Bowie does prog
Posted By: thechrisl
Subject: Bowie does prog
Date Posted: October 29 2010 at 18:46
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"The Man Who Sold The World" Loving this one lately! So heavy, so cheesy! Sounds strange but I'm hearing a lot of similarities with some of the lesser known prog acts from the same time period (like New Trolls, Kyrie Eleison, VDGG) and of course heavy doses of Sabbath, Queen, Zeppelin, Spinal Tap.... I'd have to research as to who was copying who but can guess. Anyway, it seems like he just "went there" briefly and quickly moved on to the next thing, glam, etc... All The Madmen...  |
Replies:
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: October 29 2010 at 19:27
Eh, first of all I have to take exception to the song being cheesy. Second of all he's drifted in and out of prog several times after that. But hey, we can agree to disagree.  v v v Yeah, isn't that strange? ------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened... 
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Posted By: thechrisl
Date Posted: October 29 2010 at 19:54
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Cheesy in the absolute best way. Madmen is certainly cheesy and pretentious in places but again, great! Yes he did a lot of genre hopping (& prog has a lot of sub-genres) but nothing I've heard him do sounds like this. Dated but timeless. Covering a Nirvana song 20 odd years before they did, brilliant... |
Posted By: Dean
Date Posted: October 29 2010 at 21:18
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I would have picked Width Of A Circle as being the more Progressive Rock, then Wild Eye Boy From Freecloud, Cygnet Comittee and Memory of a Free Festival from the previous album were Prog too. ------------- What? |
Posted By: The Truth
Date Posted: October 29 2010 at 21:59
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I'm a fairly big fan of The Running Gun Blues although it's not really a progressive track. ------------- http://blindpoetrecords.bandcamp.com/" rel="nofollow">  
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Posted By: Nakatira
Date Posted: October 31 2010 at 20:22
| Life on Mars is prog |
Posted By: Stonehenge
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 00:15
It's a great album  ------------- and oh how they danced, the little people of Stonehenge |
Posted By: moshkito
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 14:16
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Hi,
I would say that his Alladin Sane is quite progressive as is Diamond Dogs, mostly because the music is out there, and it was quite strong at the time.
His experimental period with Eno was also centered around the time he did "The Man Who Fell To Earth" for which some of his music was also used. If you have never seen that film, it is an excellent film, and David is very good. ------------- Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told! www.pedrosena.com |
Posted By: lucas
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 15:58
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The labum he released in 1995, 'Outside' is rather experimental and mixes a lot of musical genres : indus rock, jazz, techno, pop...This is one of his most outstanding albums. ------------- "Magma was the very first gothic rock band" (Didier Lockwood) |
Posted By: tarkus1980
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 16:09
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"The Man Who Sold the World" (the album, not the song) = Big Fat Ehn. Half good, half not. ------------- "History of Rock Written by the Losers." |
Posted By: Intruder
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 19:03
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The Berlin trilogy of Low, Heroes and Lodger....prog all over the place. Even in his blue-eyed soul period Bowie was doing proggy stuff....Station to Station also has prog all over it. Of course, it was the sound of the times and Bowie was definitely a genre jumper....whatever worked (and sold). ------------- I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there..... |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 19:32
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I had a copy of Heroes, but when I tried Outside, I started to explore his catalog further.
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted By: thechrisl
Date Posted: November 01 2010 at 22:00
Actually that's a good way to put it. In fact all the Bowie albums I've heard (even Low, hell, even Let's Dance) contain some really great tracks and some not so great, annoying even. I would agree he is generally about as progressive as an artist can get in the most literal terms, touching on various prog styles often along with many other. But there are 5-6 songs on this album that (given the year, 1970!) could have been just as influential on the big prog wave to come as the bands we always refer to. Even soon to be A list bands like Queen and Led Zep weren't rockin' this hard and this trippy in 1970. Soon after, Bowie came to be identified with the glam crowd, which influenced the punk crowd (aka, the whole anti-prog thing). Probably one reason why he's not often thought of as a "prog" influence. That is until you start thinking about it. Anyway, that's what I was trying to say but probably still haven't done a very good job... |
tarkus1980 wrote:Posted By: thechrisl
Date Posted: November 02 2010 at 13:16
| (thread moved) Guess we know how the admins feel about Bowie & prog... |
Posted By: Logan
Date Posted: November 02 2010 at 15:48
The thread was moved to the Prog-Related lounge (possibly by me) because Bowie is included in Prog-Related. I think he has merit for Crossover Prog (especially for the Berlin trilogy), though I'm fine with him in Prog Related, and if he were ever moved to that category, then this would be better suited to the Prog bands/ artists Appreciation lounge. It has to do with how we organise the categories. I like his Krautrock influenced music. By the way, a couple of tracks I like muchly off of "Heroes": ------------- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4IKuxIZkenfvukL_Y8VBqzK" rel="nofollow - Duos for fave acts |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: November 02 2010 at 15:55
This indeed. All the Madmen may be the finest song on the album, but The Width of a Circle is proggier, like the other songs mentioned here. ------------- 
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Posted By: paganinio
Date Posted: November 02 2010 at 20:49
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Bowie is truly progressive music, but not "progressive rock" as a genre. In other words, progressive approach, not prog by style. ------------- 
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Posted By: thechrisl
Date Posted: November 02 2010 at 21:47
 One thing I've picked up from this thread is that there's still a lot of Bowie I need to give a listen to. |
Posted By: thechrisl
Date Posted: November 02 2010 at 21:48
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BTW this was a pretty good book: http://33third.blogspot.com/2005/08/low.html - http://33third.blogspot.com/2005/08/low.html |
Posted By: masonandy
Date Posted: November 03 2010 at 04:56
| Bewlay Brothers, Quicksand, Cygnet Committee, Subterraneans ....pretty much everything he recorded up to and including Scary Monsters is essential. |
Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: November 03 2010 at 10:33
Yep agreed, probably my favourite Bowie album (but I'm not that keen on anything else apart from bits of Heroes, Scary Monsters and Hunky Dory) ------------- 
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Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 02:06
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Bowie does good, intelligent, innovative, ever-changing music -- get over the "prog" label.
Seriously, I think this whole "but, for the love of God, IS IT PROG????" business is pretty pointless -- and this site, with its vast range of music styles, has largely made me think that.
The term means less and less (or is that more and more) with every new "sub-genre", "related" category, and far-ranging, or after-the-fact addition.
Just something to argue about -- or maybe a way to justify one's taste, or even to feel superior in your fortress of solititude.
 It's just MUSIC, folks. Not a valid way to decide upon friendships (or the qualities of women) -- that's kiddy stuff.
 Sorry -- I'll go away again now.  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 07:19
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It's interesting how Bowie fans around here seem to fall into two camps: those who like his early stuff, but not much after the 70's and those who like his later 70's stuff and onward better. I'm in the latter category.
------------- Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Posted By: ExittheLemming
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 10:01
I do empathize with your sentiments here and yes, the never ending search for justification for subjective tastes in pseudo objective 'my Venn diagram says it's Prog' terms is tiresome BUT Until such time as the whole raison d'etre of the site is changed by (Max, I guess?) then we will continue to be governed by the stated aims of Progressive Archives Perhaps like yourself, I've long held the view now that PA faces something of a crossroads (more likely a roundabout with our membership)  and that what started as a strict exclusive policy, has for the reasons you stated re the controversial 'related' additions and proliferation of sub-genres, become so blurred between the incestuous definitions, that we are tantamount to being part of the way towards an inclusive site. This won't be a bad thing in my book but a clear watershed has yet to be established and I wonder if the members of PA would be so opposed to the site becoming an archive where Yes, ELP, Crimson and Genesis would happily rub shoulders with (say Television, Magazine), Bowie, NIN, Robert Plant, Sparks, Sabbath etc and all the other artists whose only common feature is that their music excites the members?Sorry to go off on a tangent  -------------
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Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 11:06
Off at a tangent, possibly, but excellent posts both
Personally, I've always found Bowie's 'Warszawa' to be extremely proggy ------------- 
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |
Posted By: Intruder
Date Posted: November 11 2010 at 23:43
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Prog or not prog? Nonsense to me.....this site has turned me on to some groovy music and the addition/exclusion of bands that may fall into one of the many categories doesn't water things down, it just adds to the possibility that somebody somewhere might happen upon a review, feature or forum discussion that might turn their head in a new direction. Arguing for inclusion, to me, is just a way of passing something one may believe valuable to another....I don't think ego is involved, just love of music. ------------- I like to feel the suspense when you're certain you know I am there..... |
Posted By: Peter
Date Posted: November 12 2010 at 07:44
(Bowie is listed on PA, of course.)
I love that album, BTW, and i've reviewed it, if you're interested: http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=279786 - http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=279786
If you like the rocking Mick Ronson-era early Bowie, then other essential albums are the superb Ziggy Stardust, and the somewhat uneven Aladdin Sane. Hunky Dory is another early must-have.
I have almost all of Bowie's discography -- his albums encompass many styles, and many are gems, while some have only a song or two to recommend them. I'd be happy to help you select more to try, if you like.  ------------- "And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy. |
Posted By: Jim Garten
Date Posted: November 12 2010 at 07:45
Hmmm - but do they contain Mellotrons?  -------------
Jon Lord 1941 - 2012 |