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"Dealing with Neo-Prog – Perhaps once
and for all "
Not being one prone to falling for the latest conspiracy
theory, I must admit that when it comes to issue of Neo-Progressive
Rock or as it’s more commonly called, Neo-Prog, I’ve been
tempted on more than one occasion to seriously consider, whether
or not there isn’t some kind of grand conspiracy out there
designed to discredit these purveyors of modern Symphonic
Prog. In fact, it would be easy to try and pin-the-tail on
a Neo-Prog conspiracy but deep down I know there really isn’t
one. Alas it seems more a matter of misinformation and personal
bias that fuels what has become one of the more tempestuous
debates raging within the prog community. ***
Some of you may remember the comedian that went by the
name Gallagher. He was famous for saying, “He was down on
ignorance and stupidity wherever he saw it.” Well I’m going
to modify his saying somewhat but echo a similar sentiment
that “I’m down on ignorance and misinformation wherever I
see it.” The good thing about ignorance is that unlike stupidity
it can be corrected with education. Similarly, misinformation
can be corrected with clarification and perspective. ***
Now I know that I appear to be setting myself up for
even further castigation by a few who persist in perpetuating
what I’m going to call misconceptions, but be that as it may,
somebody has to go on record in an attempt to set the record
straight. Its one thing to make the “assertion” that Neo-Prog
actually is a viable descriptive or perhaps even a sub-genre;
it is another thing entirely to defend that assertion with
any form of substantive argument. I have yet to see such an
argument. In fact I doubt one could be composed and legitimately
supported. It is to that point that I intend to make my case.
***
I fully understand that there are some individuals who
feel that it is very important that they let others know about
bands that they think fall into the so called Neo-Prog category
but regardless of their best intentions, I hope in the following
article to demonstrate once and for all the lack of conclusive
evidence for any of the attributes normally attributed to
Neo-Prog and thereby, if I do my job right, demonstrate that
Neo-Prog is essentially a NON category description since all
of what is normally labelled as such more correctly and accurately
falls into the Symphonic category. ***
Over the years I have argued that there was a point in
the mid seventies, where Progressive Rock went from being
a verb to being a noun. The term was no longer describing
a process as much as it was describing the result. It was
no longer music that was in some way ‘progressing”, it had
in fact arrived. It went from being progressive with a small
“p” to Progressive with a capital “P”. All of which was a
clumsy way of saying that by the mid seventies Progressive
Rock had become an ‘established musical tradition.’ This particular
musical genre had developed to the point where it displayed
a consensus of musical attributes that if applied by a musician
would logically lead to the creation of a musical composition
that in every way be could described as Progressive Rock.
The music created from that point forward continued to display
a similar kind of adventurousness but it was now conceived
within an established set of parameters. In a sense everything
that came after built on the shoulders of those who’d come
before and perpetuated the established tradition. ***
I believe that understanding the concept of there being
an established tradition is vitally important to anyone taking
the time to express a comment regarding any musical genre.
This knowledge will inform their understanding of the genre
and therefore their writing. And it will certainly have an
impact on how they view all future music created in that tradition.
In this particular case, we’re talking about Progressive Rock,
a genre that has its roots in the Psychedelic music scene.
Much of the early Progressive Rock borrows heavily from that
era. Many of the early bands tended to shift easily from a
more adventurous musical output only to return to a simpler
blues-rock foundation. It’s not until roughly 1973 or perhaps
1974 where enough music had been created and recorded that
the genre began to exhibit a consensus of compositional attributes.
***
While there still may be some who have trouble actually
putting forth a concise definition of Progressive Rock it
strikes me that more than enough time has transpired and music
created for there to be vast body of work to point to. Just
as specific musical elements when applied will produce a piece
of Reggae music, a Madrigal or even a country song, these
specific musical attributes when applied in whole or even
in part would allow for the creation of Progressive Rock.
Most reading this will have at least some idea of what these
attributes are.
Borrowing from my own defining attributes, a piece of
music is more likely to be considered Progressive Rock the
more it incorporates some of the following characteristics:
• Compositions featuring multiple time signatures and
sometimes complex polyrhythm.
• Layered, dynamic arrangements many times featuring
a mixture of loud and soft elements.
• Songs predominantly on the longish side, usually structured
and rarely improvised.
• The incorporation of non-rock musical elements such
as augmentation, crescendos, diminuendo atonality, discord,
suites, counterpoint, etc. for the purpose of adding dynamics
to the arrangements.
• The use of a Mellotron, string synth or a full orchestra
to emulate a symphonic structure.
• Extended instrumental guitar and keyboard solos, spotlighting
musical virtuosity.
• The inclusion of unusual instruments and musical styles
atypical of the rock genre.
• A blending of acoustic, electric and electronic instruments
where each plays a vital role in translating the emotion of
compositions which typically contain multiple moods.
• Multi-movement compositions that may or may not include
a recurring musical theme.
• Multi-sectional compositions created from unrelated
musical parts. (Supper's Ready)
I’m going to leave it at this for now. But next time,
I want to dig a little deeper into what constitutes Symphonic
progressive rock and then start dealing with at least 13 misconceptions
that are used to try to defend Neo-prog. I hope you’ll find
it interesting. I’m always interested in hearing feedback.
Let me know what you think: jlucky@pacificcoast.net
To
buy Jerry's book's - The Progressive Rock Files/20th Century
Rock and Roll : Punk /The Psychedelic Rock Files /20th Century
Rock and Roll : Women in Rock - Click Here
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