Hey guys and gals (are there any?)...it seems like most people

here, also like blues music (well perhaps mostly electric blues)?!!

So...here goes...which ..if any...blues outfit, have leanings to progmusic?? 

My bid: Groundhogs :

"The mighty Groundhogs" / " Split" / "Hogwash"

Not (only) because Tony McPhee (frontfigure,guitarist,songwriter)

saw fit to use keyboards (yes there are mellotron) on most of

these 3 fine albums,but also because there are some new approaches to the blues on these albums!!

So...go on.....let us have some bids!!!

T.Larz.

Eh... it  might be possible, and I havent heard the records you mention, but forgive me for remaining skeptical. 

While blues is very good at times, it is likely not prog because the very definition of blues is not consistent with progress.  Blues always has to come back to a certain style, a specific sound, even the specific I, IV, V chord progression. 

Blues can have a lot of emotion and good technical musicianship, but it is not likely progressive.  it may be progressive or different when compared to other blues, but not overall.

Hey Goldenspiral....yes i see your point.....but thats exactly what

i am talking about......a progress in the blues form.

Please try our any of the 3 mentioned albums.

Then you will (hopefully) see/hear what i mean!!?

Have a nice summer.

T.Larz.

Alvin Lee's Ten Years After have some progressive elements in a couple of albums, perhaps best heard on "Cricklewood Green".

There is also a not very known british blues band called Bakerloo, who have a few proggish notes (they even have a 15 minute long epic).

And then there's Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac.

More recently you got Little Axe.

I agree with GoldenSpiral, blues has well defined metrics. Anyway, it is possible to listen to some bluesy moments in a few prog tunes. For example, in the first track of Mältid (from Samla mammas manna) there is a moment (at the beginning) in which you can hear a guitar solo over some bluesy chords... but it lasts only a few seconds. And I guess that's the way blues is used in prog music, only as a short motive inside a long track.

On the other hand, if a blues was to be considered PROG it would have to show some rhythm changes. And the main example I can recall now is "Woman across the river", from the great Freddie King. I've always liked that tune... OK, not progressive, but constantly changing between binary and ternary rhythms.

Hey Kotro...right you are: Bakerloo  is an excellent choice....

Dave "Clem" Clempson (later in Bad company and other great bands) leads this band into other ares than pure blues.

But also LOVE SCULPTURE (Dave Edmonds) had some tendecies

towards progressive music.....listen to some of their

second album:"Forms and feelings".

T.Larz.

Hi Dick...yeah i remember that sampler "All good clean fun"...bought it in a shop

i Denmark for 20 kroner (which is aprox. 2 and a half pound)...and i remember

there were some great artist on this (Help yourself..a MAN off spring..if memory

serves me well!??).

Have a nice progsummer.

T.Larz.

I had that 'All Good Clean Fun' album a while back on vinyl, and felt there was a little too much bland filler on it. The 3CD looks better though.

The Groundhogs were definitely the most prog blues band out there, and even called an album 'Blues Obituary' where they ditched traditional blues song structures in favour of a more evolutionary approach that went on for a good 5 albums, until the very average 'Solid' where they went back to boogie rock.

Greg Koch

Scott Henderson

I'll just have to name-check May Blitz again - superb psych/blues band that wandered into prog territory many a time.

I don't think that time changes are key to prog, and if you think that all blues is 3 chords, you need to check out the bands already mentioned - John Mayall's "Bare Wires" will show you what can be done with 3 chords... superb stuff

I wouldn't consider "Split" (or any other Groundhogs LP) prog, but it's an amazing album - anyone else noticed the similarity between "Cherry Red" and "Caught In A Phrase Garden" by A.C.T.? (mp3 available on this site!).

I should mention that blues is about emotion and raw power, not sheer technical skill, though many of the best blues guitarists started out with blues backgrounds.

I know I get characterized as someone who grew up idolizing Hendrix, (everyone did during the sixties and seventies) but I get the feeling you're all trying your best to name guitarists without listing the obvious choices for Revolutionary Blues Guitarist. To save you all the trouble of being sterotypical, I shall name the obvious figures.

Robert Johnson-King of the Delta Blues and an AMAZING guitarist even by today's post-Hendrix standards. Also a great vocalist. As far as pre-electric blues goes, probably the most important name you should recognize. Brief carreer though. There's only a few tracks of him actually playing. The brighter the star, etc.

Howlin' Wolf-Best known for his voice (Imagine Captain Beefheart)

Muddy Waters-Father of the Chicago blues movement.

B.B. King-Excellent Chicago blues guitarist. Still growing strong.

Rolling Stones-Not blues per se, but rather heavily influenced.

Eric Clapton-Sort of obvious

Jeff Beck-Slightly underrated blues/rock guitarist. Got a little proggy every once in a while.

Jimmy Page-Little known fact: All the early heavy metal bands were really hard blues bands. (Yes, even Black Sabbath, once you get past the lyrics)

Hendrix-Aside from his well-documented guitar style, was very deeply steeped in the blues.

After Hendrix, blues guitarists began to adopt a more experimental style, especially Robert Fripp. For all you people who never understood all those long jams he loves, it's because jamming is a major blues tradition. You're not a true blues man unless you know how to jam. (No relation to 'noodling' (A good blues guitarist knows what he's doing) or jazz (Jazz guitarists are few and far between, and jazz is a completely diferent monster than simple improvisation))

I almost forgot Stevie Ray Vaugn. Probably the last great 'pure' blues guitarist. Rare these days.

Hi DICK...thanx for the info on the "All good clean..."  cd-set.

Sound great to me, i must buy it !!

Tonny.

I was gonna mention 'Bare Wires' too- it also pretty much triggered the jazz rock boom in the UK as well, with various future members of Colosseum and other such ensembles.

Colosseum's first album 'Those Who Are About To Die We Salute You', and elements of their second 'Valentyne Suite', have many prog blues/jazz tracks like 'Those Who Are About To Die...', 'Butty's Blues', 'The Kettle' and other songs.

I've heard a few of the Keef Hartley Band albums, and 'Halfbreed' is a classic record, which is one of the blues boom's greatest and most adventurous albums. They are hard to trace, though a few of these albums are scheduled for re-release.