{"id":1685,"date":"2010-07-26T08:53:23","date_gmt":"2010-07-26T07:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=1685"},"modified":"2010-07-29T11:06:18","modified_gmt":"2010-07-29T10:06:18","slug":"wondrous-stories-or-the-love-of-prog-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/07\/26\/wondrous-stories-or-the-love-of-prog-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Wondrous Stories, or the love of Prog Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new album has got me excited. Admittedly, it\u2019s a new album of old stuff, but even so. The old stuff in question is about forty years old, and can be found on Wondrous Stories<\/em>, a new compilation of the best of Progressive Rock<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most people I know hate prog rock: a former colleague of mine called it \u2018pomp rock,\u2019 and was infuriated with its self-indulgent self-belief and over-blown self-importance (features encountered in classical music too, I countered: think of Wagner…).<\/p>\n

\"Roger
Wondrous worlds: album artwork by Roger Dean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prog rock was about exploration: extending the structure of songs beyond the three-minute wonder of the traditional pop song; extending the textural soundscapes using electronics,\u00a0 singing about bizarre, elliptical subjects, and often incorporating elements of improvisation from jazz. The swirling synthesiser sounds of Rick Wakeman and the melodramatic Mellotron in the hands of Tony Banks<\/a> (think of the opening of \u2018Watcher of the Skies\u2019 from Foxtrot<\/em>, where the whole album seems to appear out the fog); and rhythmic trickery (see the opening of BBC 4\u2019s marvellous \u2018Prog Rock Britannia<\/a>\u2019 for a vocal rendition of some of the movement\u2019s famous rhythms): all these elements contributed to drive rock to new dimensions.<\/p>\n