The Forgotten Masterpieces... an intro thread into obscure 70s prog

[Black Winter Day]

as jaykeeley asks...

here are a few bands worth mentioning at first (i am just now delving into the more underground stuff):

CAMEL (prog rock with an excellent flair for non-wonky songcrafting and musicianship)
CARAVAN ("canterbury" prog. lots of melodic pieces, jam sessions, etc.)
SOFT MACHINE (see above)
MAGMA ("zheul" prog.)
GENTLE GIANT (beautiful stuff... lots of vocal harmonies. "haunting" would be a good word to describe a lot of their stuff)
NEKTAR (german band. great 70s hard rock vibe combined with heavier stuff. i think maiden covered "king of twilight" by them once.)


GENRES: http://www.progarchives.com/Progressive-rock.asp (scroll down a bit)

anyone else familiar with this sort of stuff?

 

[Black Winter Day]

here is another thread on the subject (from the scary opeth forum!) http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150277

 

[NAD]

This will be a lesson for me, I'm only familiar with the bigger names in 70s stuff. I'll check out that one link later, but I'm not sure I want to venture into the Opeth forum for the other.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

I wouldnt say Camel and Gentle Giant "obscure" . They are well known. Nektar too.
The 70s prog obscurity is placed in Kraut Rock, imo the most challenging rock form.
5 albums that have obscurity and high quality in top levels:
My Solid Ground - same
Amon Duul II - Yeti (well not totally obscure this one)
Can - Tago Mago
Ramses - Eternity Rise
Agitation Free - 2nd
Also almost ALL Opeth titles are stolen from 70s prog groups

 

[Black Winter Day]

I wouldnt say Camel and Gentle Giant "obscure" . They are well known. Nektar too.

well, obscure compared to say... yes, rush and genesis.

 

[JayKeeley]

well, obscure compared to say... yes, rush and genesis.

Right.

What is 'kraut rock' anyway, other than it probably coming out of Germany?

 

[NAD]

Weird.

I'm not terribly familiar with it but what I've heard is digital noise.

This is my only Kraut Rock CD, Kraftwerk - Autobahn:

It's different, that's all I can really say.

 

[JayKeeley]

Oh it's Kraftwerk? Shit, even I know Kraftwerk.

 

[NAD]

I looked at AMG's list of Kraut Rock bands and Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream were the only two names I had ever heard of. I can appreciate that type of stuff more than I like it.

 

[Under a Stone]

The only obscure 70s prog i can think of is Blackwater Park(and no i'm not talking about the title of an Opeth album).

 

[Black Winter Day]

Krautrock — Style of free-form rock originating in Germany in the early 70's. Taking an often minimalist and experimental approach, this form of progressive combines ambient sounds, tape loops, and guitar riffs, with lots of improvisation. The result is often eerie and unpleasant to the casual listener, but has a distinctive "cosmic" attribute all its own. It is a style that needs to be listened to, rather than heard. Examples: Can, Neu, Faust, Ash-Ra Tempel and Agitation Free.


this is what really intrigues me...

Zeuhl — A sub-genre of progressive rock created by the French band Magma that is really a unique and very challenging form of jazz fusion incorporating chanting, dissonance and loud rock. Stylistically there are elements of Bartok, Stockhausen, Duke Ellington, and blues shouting.

 

[Black Winter Day]

goddamn, i think prog rock has almost as many sub-genres as metal...

 

[NAD]

Kraut rawk:

http://www.rathergood.com/laibach/

 

[IOfTheStorm]

the greatest kraut rock band is Amon Duul II
they are one of my favourite non metal bands, and they are not generally described as kraut rock, because they were more "heavy" and riff oriented than all other kraut bands. They even named the genre. I would call them "teutonic psychedelia". They are one of the most interesting bands ever, zillion music ideas per song.
The definition of kraut rock is definetally Neu! and Can. A superbe band that some say that it belongs to kraut rock (but it doesnt) is ELOY.They are total GODZ!

The only obscure 70s prog i can think of is Blackwater Park

they are more hard rock, than prog.

 

[Papa Josh]

I absolutely hated Gentle Giant when Doug Pinnick played them for me. Can't think that I would like them much more now...

 

[Krilons Resa]

Camel and especially Nektar ruuuuuuuule.

 

[Demonspell]

goddamn, i think prog rock has almost as many sub-genres as metal...

The difference being that fans of prog subgenres don't start huge arguments about the ideological purity of their chosen subgenre...most of them anyway. And it's good to see Eloy being mentioned...Ocean definitely fits in the lost classic category.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

and not only ..
at least 5 Eloy albums are MASTERPIECES

 

[Black Winter Day]

I absolutely hated Gentle Giant when Doug Pinnick played them for me. Can't think that I would like them much more now...

do you remember which album it was? i find it hard that someone who likes king's-x would dislike GG (not that there is a stunning resemblance or anything).

 

[Papa Josh]

do you remember which album it was? i find it hard that someone who likes king's-x would dislike GG (not that there is a stunning resemblance or anything).

No, but if I saw the cover I may be able to point it out. I just remember him telling me to check them out, since i was way into Yes, Rush, Floyd, Fates Warning, etc.