Experiencing Progressive Rock: A Listener’s Companion PDF
Preview Experiencing Progressive Rock: A Listener’s Companion
EXPERIENCING PROGRESSIVE ROCK The Listener’s Companion Kenneth LaFave, Series Editor TitlesinTheListener’sCompanionprovidereaderswithadeeperunderstandingof keymusicalgenresandtheworkofmajorartistsandcomposers.Aimedatnonspecial- ists,eachvolumeexplainsinclearandaccessiblelanguagehowtolistentoworksfrom particular artists, composers, and genres. Looking at both the context in which the musicfirstappearedandhassincebeenheard,authorsexplorewithreaderstheenvi- ronmentsinwhichkeymusicalworkswerewrittenandperformed. ExperiencingAliceCooper:AListener’sCompanion,byIanChapman ExperiencingtheBeatles:AListener’sCompanion,byBrookeHalpin ExperiencingBeethoven:AListener’sCompanion,byGeoffreyBlock ExperiencingBessieSmith:AListener’sCompanion,byJohnClark ExperiencingBigBandJazz:AListener’sCompanion,byJeffSultanof ExperiencingBillyJoel:AListener’sCompanion,byThomasMacFarlane ExperiencingBlackSabbath:AListener’sCompanion,byNolanStolz ExperiencingBroadwayMusic:AListener’sCompanion,byKathrynSherrell ExperiencingCarlMariavonWeber:AListener’sCompanion,byJosephE.Morgan ExperiencingChickCorea:AListener’sCompanion,byMonikaHerzig ExperiencingChopin:AListener’sCompanion,byChristineGengaro ExperiencingDavidBowie:AListener’sCompanion,byIanChapman ExperiencingFilmMusic:AListener’sCompanion,byKennethLaFave ExperiencingJazz:AListener’sCompanion,byMichaelStephans ExperiencingJewishMusicinAmerica:AListener’sCompanion,byTinaFrühauf ExperiencingLedZeppelin:AListener’sCompanion,byGreggAkkerman ExperiencingLeonardBernstein:AListener’sCompanion,byKennethLaFave ExperiencingMozart:AListener’sCompanion,byDavidSchroeder ExperiencingOrnetteColeman:AListener’sCompanion,byMichaelStephans ExperiencingPeterGabriel:AListener’sCompanion,byDurrellBowman ExperiencingProgressiveRock:AListener’sCompanion,byRobertG.H.Burns ExperiencingtheRollingStones:AListener’sCompanion,byDavidMalvinni ExperiencingRush:AListener’sCompanion,byDurrellBowman ExperiencingSchumann:AListener’sCompanion,byDonaldSanders ExperiencingStravinsky:AListener’sCompanion,byRobinMaconie ExperiencingTchaikovsky:AListener’sCompanion,byDavidSchroeder ExperiencingVerdi:AListener’sCompanion,byDonaldSanders ExperiencingtheViolinConcerto:AListener’sCompanion,byFrancoSciannameo EXPERIENCING PROGRESSIVE ROCK A Listener’s Companion Robert G. H. Burns ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD Lanham • Boulder • New York • London PublishedbyRowman&Littlefield AnimprintofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc. 4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706 www.rowman.com UnitA,WhitacreMews,26-34StannaryStreet,LondonSE114AB Copyright©2018byRobertG.H.Burns Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby anyelectronicormechanicalmeans,includinginformationstorageandretriev- alsystems,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher,exceptbyareviewer whomayquotepassagesinareview. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Burns,RobertG.H.author. Title:Experiencingprogressiverock:alistener'scompanion/RobertG.H.Burns. Description:Rowman&Littlefield,[2018]|Series:Listener'scompanion|Includesbibliographi- calreferencesandindex. Identifiers:LCCN2017053260(print)|LCCN2017054077(ebook)|ISBN9781442266032(elec- tronic)|ISBN9781442266025(cloth:alk.paper) Subjects:LCSH:Progressiverockmusic—Historyandcriticism Classification:LCCML3534(ebook)|LCCML3534.B86362018(print)|DDC781.66—dc23 LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017053260 TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaper forPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica CONTENTS SeriesEditor’sForeword vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii 1 “FromtheBeginning”:TheStruggleforDefinition 1 2 Conceptuality:EmbracingtheLongPlayerandTechnology AdvancesinSoundReproduction 29 3 EnemiesattheDoor:ProgunderThreat 45 4 ANewDecadeandaNewProgressiveRock 69 5 NewDirectionsinthe1990sand2000s 79 6 TrippingtheLightFantastic:ProgressiveRockandSpectacle 97 7 NewLife:ReunitingforRenewedSuccess 109 8 Postprog:ANewStruggleforDefinition 119 9 Conclusion:IsContemporaryProgressiveRockDrivenby Musical“Progression”? 127 Notes 141 SuggestedListening 153 SuggestedReading 163 Index 167 AbouttheAuthor 181 v SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD T hegoaloftheListener’sCompanionseriesistogivereadersadeeper understanding of pivotal musical genres and the creative work of its iconic composers and performers. This is accomplished in an inclusive manner that does not necessitate extensive music training or elitist shoulder rubbing. Authors of the series place the reader in specific listening experiences in which the music is examined in its historical context with regard to both compositional and societal parameters. By positioning the reader in the real or supposed environment of the mu- sic’screation,theauthorprovidesforadeeperenjoymentandapprecia- tion of the art form. Series authors, often drawing on their own exper- tise as both performers and scholars, deliver to readers a broad under- standingofmajormusicalgenresandtheachievementsofartistswithin thosegenresaslivedlisteningexperiences. No other musical genre is as loudly despised as the one that is the subject of this thoughtful, engaging book by Rob Burns. Burns goes some distance to explain why this is so, and if the skeptical reader at book’sendismoreinclinedtolistentoprogressiverockwithoutdisdain, it’s because he brings to this book his own background as a classical musicianwhoimmigratedtorock,addingcriticalinsightsandagraspof thegenre’sdifficulthistory. The names of prog rock artists are as familiar as any other pop culturenames, among them KingCrimson, JethroTull, Procol Harum, Yes, Genesis, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But there hangs around them the air of something separate and apart from the mainstream. vii viii SERIESEDITOR’SFOREWORD HereismusicthatquotesHolstandCopland,referencesjazz,anduses progressions from Bach and Dvorak as harmonic frames. What did these groups think they were doing? Apparently they didn’t get the memofromJohnLennon:“BeforeElvis,therewasnothing.” There has always been an air of elitist purity around the critics who dismiss progressive rock. I recall a friend in college asking me, “What’s your favorite rock group?” Answered I: “Emerson, Lake and Palmer.” “That,” my friend sniffed, “is not real rock.” “Real rock” is that which has its roots no deeper than the 1950s. Only, how is that possible? Fifties rock ’n’ roll came from rhythm and blues, which came from the blues, which in turn resulted from African Americans’ encounters with Westernmusicdecadesprevious.Nomusicgenrelivesalone.Musicisa tree,everygenreisabranch,andtherootsrunineverydirection. Andyet,theanti-progprejudicecontinues,atleastinsomequarters. Writer KelefaSannehoffered athoughtfulappreciation ofthegenrein the June 19, 2017, New Yorker magazine that, when casually read, seems a fair, even positive, appraisal. But a closer read reveals subtle dismissals. The genre’s main appeal, writes Sanneh, was “not spiritual, buttechnical.”Progrock’screatorswere“rathernerdy.”Andpartofthe genre’s very identity was its inherent “uncoolness.” Sanneh is generally receptive to the value of prog rock but is forced by pop culture’s judg- mentstoheavilyqualifyhisassessment. Burns,bycontrast,looksatthegenrewithoutprejudicetohearwhat the bands have to say. As noted earlier, readers of the Listener’s Com- panion series should come away with a clearer grasp of why they feel the way they do about certain genres and pieces of music. This de- mands from the writer the ability to describe music in everyday terms, notinacademicjargon.Italsorequiresthewritertogodeepusingonly thesesimpleverbaltools. Burnsdoesthisthroughout,outlininganumberoffactorsthatmade prog rock what it was. Varied instrumentation that moves well beyond guitarsanddrums,tendingtofavorthekeyboard;ahighleveloftechni- cal mastery that echoes classical virtuosity; and most of all, perhaps, harmonic sophistication. In one insightful look at a key prog rock song, Burnsexamines“Machine Messiah” byYesand lays outwhy itis effec- tive. He’s careful to include mention of the particular harmonic mode thatshapes thesong’sbasicsoundand stillmore carefultoexplainhow thatmodesoundsandwhyitisessentialtothesong’scharacter. SERIESEDITOR’SFOREWORD ix Prog rock enjoyed a heyday in the 1970s and, as Burns and other criticshavepointedout,itwasbroughtdownhardintheearly1980sby punk. Major prog rock bands retired or took a hiatus in the wake of punk’s insistence that rock equals guitars and drums playing a basic beat and a few chords to a biting social commentary. But punk didn’t uproot the tree of music and plant a new one; it added a graft. And although the graft initially outgrew the other branches, the others still remain today. Burns’s book is testimony to the continued and renewed interestinthemosthated—andsecretlyloved—genreinrockhistory. KennethLaFave
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