If the Beatles were a prog band their ultimate album would had been like this
Eleonor Rigby
I am the walrus
A Day in the Life
Helter Skelter
Come Together
L.S.D
Strawberry fields forever
The fool on the hill
Norvegian Wood
Revolution
Revolution 9
Abeatles.jpg
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
This will surely begin the psych vs. prog debate. Huge Beatles fan here, but I don't consider most of those prog.Originally Posted by Musitron
The only ones I consider prog on that list are SFF and "A Day in the Life." Maybe "I Am the Walrus," but that's about it.
Certainly, I would include "Happiness is a Warm Gun."
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I'd include Within You Without You, Only A Northern Song, Side Two of Abbey Road from You Never Give Me Your Money on and all of Revolver.....
Martha My Dear as well...
Here Comes The Sun- The middle section is 11/8, 4/4, 7/8 ("Sun, Sun, Sun, Here We Come")
I'm sure there are many ways to count it.
Within You Without You- The call and response between the strings and sitar in 5/8.
Of course I just forgot.
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
Well, if time signature changes are the only criteria, then we can go back as early as "Things We Said Today."
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
If I Needed Someone, Rain and maybe Nowhere Man as well.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
Listen to it.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I did. It's in 4/4 all the way through.
Tomorrow Never Knows, FFS.
I've always held the opinion that prog began with the Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane single and that Sgt Peppers was the first prog album so I'd have to make mine a 4 CD boxed set
Check out my solo project prog band, Mutiny in Jonestown at https://mutinyinjonestown.bandcamp.com/
Check out my solo project progressive doom metal band, WytchCrypt at https://wytchcrypt.bandcamp.com/
"Glass Onion."
But, in my experience, most of what has been cited is stoned psychedelia.....
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Well, that's kinda my original point. I'm not suggesting that it's prog. But there is a distinct tempo change (much more exaggerated live, I should add) that isn't much different than some of the examples cited.
I guess I misstated myself originally by using time "signature changes."
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
"You Never Give Me Your Money" suite) Pure art rock.
Prog began with tomorrow never knows
I'd go a little further back to The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away", but it's an endlessly debatable topic.
And I'll add "It's All Too Much" to the list of Beatles toons.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Just been to Let it Be stage show and was knocked sideways again by the Sgt Peppers section, even When I'm 64 was mind-blowing. The Abbey Road was spot on as well.
How about, "You Know My Name (look up the number)"?
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Prog really came from the psychedelic movement. Of course the Beatles and Floyd were at the heart of that. But I've always felt that the cornerstones that Prog was built upon were The Beatles, The Who, Hendrix, Cream and Dylan.
Bill
She'll be standing on the bar soon
With a fish head and a harpoon
and a fake beard plastered on her brow.
Dylan - a prog related figure? I'm afraid he doesn't know that.
Sorry,Prog for lack of a better term was started by the writers of mega-hit songs by Lesley Gore. California Nights(Have you ever heard this thing from start to finish?),You Don't Own Me(mainly for it's daring pro-women anti-double standard lyrical content),It's My Party(using chord progressions hardly heard by anyone else at the time) and the sequel,Judy's Turn To Cry(she sings a waltz vocal over a 4/4 time sig. and the chords they chose are very different from most pop tunes at the time. I hear these songs at work everyday and every time one of the more complex ones come on I am always struck by the way they were constructed. She has a powerful voice too for I guess an 18 year old maybe. Gore is miles ahead of Brian Wilson even though I don't think she had anything to do with composing them,she sang the hell out of all of them.
If you count synths, mellotrons and sitar usage as criteria, the Beatles were the first PROG BAND ever. Did you know that the opening of Bungalow Bill is a mellotron tape (the spanish guitar thing)?
Jim
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