Progressive Rock Reconsidered (Composer Resource Manuals) (Paperback)

~ K. Holm-Hudson (Author) "Critical response to 1970s progressive rock was often brutal..." (more)
Key Phrases: math rock, textural rhythm, energy atrocities, New York, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stone (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In this book, the glory days of progressive rock are relived in a series of insightful essays about the key bands, songwriters and songs that made prog-rock such an innovative style.

About the Author

Kevin Holm-Hudson is a Professor of Popular Culture and Music at the University of Kentucky.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; illustrated edition edition (October 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815337159
• ISBN-13: 978-0815337157
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #931,619 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU BETTER HOPE SO, March 10, 2003

By	Kerry Leimer (Makawao, Hawaii United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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The more you appreciate and enjoy music, the more it becomes incumbent upon you to understand music in terms beyond the social context, beyond "I like it" or "I don't like it". The arts are generally forgiving to lay people: you need not understand the references, the structures, the variations, the sources or the traditions. Which is a long way of saying, you don't need to understand much.

Unless you really want to enjoy what you're listening to.

This book brings together a generous spectrum of opinion on music and the battered category of Progressive Rock. I have been drawn to aspects of this musical "form" for many, many years. And while Prog includes its share of ostentatious and overblown nonsense, it also offers some genuinely original, powerful and moving music.

The positive attributes of this music are best exemplified by Gregory Karl in his analysis of King Crimson's "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" . Here at last is a lucid and insightful essay which clearly connects the music itself with its accompanying subtexts. Mr. Karl does an outstanding job of tracing the elements of the score and structure forward and backward in the King Crimson catalog to make an intellectual connection between sound and meaning. John S. Cotner's analysis of Pink Floyd's "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" is interesting in its attempt to take us through a new system of notation for a new kind of compositional technique. And there are several other essays ranging from lyrical analyses of works by Roger Waters and Adrian Belew, to the time and thematic transformation techniques of Keith Emerson, as well as other perspectives on the music of bands such as Yes and Rush.

These essays may seem dry and overly scholastic in some cases, but an untrained reader needs to look beyond the immediate and sometimes significant challenge of dealing with music theory to the understanding that this music usually goes well beyond the surface characteristics of sound and song to something more profound. In fact, if you like this musical form, this book will better help you understand why you like it, even without comprehending every nuace presented by the authors.

The only topic that seems to be missing is the role of the studio in much of this music. In many cases, signal processing techniques and studio manipulation play a significant role in the resulting music. For example, the article by Mr. Cotner, which goes to such great lengths to develop a system of notation capable of dealing with the vagaries of an Echoplex, never gives a complete nod to the sometimes "experimental" and even "accidental" origin of some of these pieces -- intellect catching up with intuition, as Brian Eno has said. None-the-less, Kevin Holm-Hudson needs to be applauded for putting together a broad-ranging, thought-provoking and -- sorry for the cliche -- challenging book that should compel you to know more about what you think you hear.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thick as a Brick, but excellent for the thinking prog fan, May 21, 2002

By A Customer

Some previous reviewers have lambasted this book as "pretentious" (kind of funny, seeing that from alleged prog fans). What is so pretentious about an academic writer taking an "academic" perspective on rock? It's not as if this music was the Rolling Stones, after all. I don't see the pretense here; this IS an "academic" book, in that it does require some thought from the reader (it also helps to know the music that is written about well). But I enjoyed it for that very reason.

This is NOT a book for beginners, for those who want to know what prog was/is all about or for those looking for VH-1 "Behind the Music"-style bios. If you want a "survey" of progressive rock--what it was, its history, etc., check out Ed Macan's text "Rocking the Classics." If on the other hand you love this music, and maybe you're tired of reading the same facts over and over but instead you want to learn about how a body of music may be "read" from a number of different fields (philosophy, musicology, journalism), then this is for you. For that reason I would recommend it not only for serious prog fans, but for anyone interested in popular music studies.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For Academics Mostly, But New Insights Good, January 5, 2002

By	Mark D Burgh "Music, Writing, Art, Film, Hist... (Fort Smith, AR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

You ought to have at least a Master's Degree before you open this book. Highly technical, and written in mostly academic jargon, the essays in this book reflect the current views of progressive rock among people who work in higher education. Some of the essays are a bit of a shock -- not that that's bad - to long time prog fans. The Queer theory version of Close to the Edge is a new perspective, as is the Lesbian view of Jon Anderson's lyrics. I learned new things by reading them, which is the point.

If you have some knowledge of music theory, you might enjoy this book better. Kevin Holm-Hudson's essay on "Trilogy" is quite good, as is long-time academic Rockist Deena Weinstein's decontruction of Roger Water's lyrics. All of the articles are worthwhile, even if takes a while to get through some of the more technical musical discussions. Give yourself some time, and you may come to value you this book.