Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An almost comprehensive sweep through 70s prog, June 15, 2003
This is an astonishing collection from many of the greatest prog bands. Where else could you find a CD compilation that included Frank Zappa, ELP, Jethro Tull and Van Der Graaf? And at such a fantastic price?It's actually a struggle to work out who's missing. Well, there's Pink Floyd for one, a disappointment given that this selection is led by the EMI and Virgin stables. There's no Can, no King Crimson, no UK, no Gong, no John Martyn. But you can't squeeze every major prog band into a 35-track compilation. Apart from the aforementioned Zappa track (actually from 1969) and the obligatory Focus 'Hocus Pocus', this is very much a British album. Track selection from each of the bands is, by and large, excellent. Do we get the remastered version or the original CD release? I can't say. But when, as a compiler, you're trying to hit a certain price-point, you can't always afford to choose the best version. The opening track -- VdGG's 'Theme One' -- is a mystery, as it's not the George Martin-produced version that appears on the VdGG compilations. It's intriguing, nonetheless. The cover is a straight rip-off of the Roger Dean work for Yes, and without humour. The only thing that I really miss is a little sleevenote essay -- anything about the 1970s, about prog, or about the process of selecting the tracks would have been nice. But otherwise, really well done. This is the best prog rock compilation I've yet seen. And I hate to say it, but we should thank Richard Branson for his courage in the 1970s to recruit bands like Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, and Egg, to the Virgin label. Without them, this album would not have been possible. It's just a shame the compiler didn't show equal courage by choosing a track from Henry Cow!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Introduction...or...Memories of the Past , February 25, 2006
This triple-CD collection is excellent value for money. It is also a better than average representation of what is good and varied about prog music. There are omissions, probably for copyright reasons, but it's good to see some of the more influential names here, including Yes, ELP, Van Der Graaf, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Caravan, Barclay James Harvest, Camel etc. To be fair, the prog scene at this time (mainly the 70s) was vast and the producers of this set have done well to collect so many quality tracks together. The discs are a joy and I have found myself scrabbling around trying to hear more of long-forgotten acts, such as Gentle Giant. They were terrific. This set is definitely worth taking a chance on - there will be some tracks that will not appeal, but others certainly will! If anyone wanted to hear what the prog scene was like in the late 60s early 70s then this is a good place to start. Ah, the memories.......
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Of Pomp and Circumstance., December 28, 2005
Growing up in England though the sixties and seventies for me was a great musical experience. We had the best of both world's, with the indigenous music scene generating bands like Pink Floyd, Family and Jethro Tull, not to mention such stalwarts as Brinsley Schwartz, Dr. Feelgood, Hawkwind, but we also had this great American music, mainly but not always from the Bay Area like the Dead, Airplane and Quicksilver but with H.P. Lovecraft, Moby Grape as well as the Fugs and the MC5 but without forgetting Frank Zappa.
As a disc jockey in the Locarno Ballroom in Sunderland I was able to draw on these bands and more, introducing some wonderful music from Germany as Faust and Cluster while my record collection grew almost daily.
The British Progressive movement encompassed many and more of the artists included in this three disc collection. It is hard to know where to draw the line really as so many influences were drawn upon to produce the unique recordings these bands made. While some may try to define the movement by the use of classical or modern jazz elements into the standard pop/rock form, there was much more to it than that. Complexity of composition or even the extension of songs beyond the formulaeic tin pan alley limit of three minutes would allow some to qualify. Surely we must accept that songs which sought to expand on the human condition beyond the predominant concern for teen love and angst of the top forty would qualify too.
This brief collection of songs was attractive to me even though I have most of the material on individual albums. But together they are a joy to play in the car or at parties. Back Street Luv by Curved Air with Sonja Kristina's unique vocals is a personal favourite and the populist minimalist rendition of a segment of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells is even a good contribution although I would have preferred Viv Stanshall's dulcid tones to that. Child in Time with Ian Gillan's chilling vocal leading a menacing Deep Purple pre-overture rocker does not seem out of place here. What I really like about this collection, aside from the songs and artists is the range of material on offer. You have Jethro Tull's 'Locomtive Breath' and Frank Zappa's 'Peaches on Regalia' from tha fantastic 'Hot Rats' album and there is a section of Peter Barden's Camel's 'Snow Goose' and Atomic Rooster's 'Tomorrow Night'. I had no sooner received this album than I heard from England that a band I had once introduced at the Locarno had reformed with the original members and was once again touring and appeared in the North East...Van der Graaf Generator. Shorty this review is for you.
All in all a great collection of songs and artists which took me back to pre-punk days where songwriting and virtuosity were valued and the musical world was opened up before us. There is a place for all sorts of music especially in the drab, monochrome hip-hop world we currently live in. I appreciate this piece of musical heritage and, although like many others I have a disagreement about which tracks and artists to include, I think that this collection gives a good taste of the material that is out there for further investigation. Highly recommended.
PS. One of my own personal joys was identifying how many of these artists had appeared at one of the Sunderland venues. It was easier to count which had not.
Enjoy
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~ Various Artists
~ Van Der Graaf Generator
~ Genesis
~ Van Der Graaf Generator
See all 12 tracks on this disc
is mainly Progressive Rock, quite Rock, with hints of Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)”
