Prog in unlikely places

[Batchman]

78s are among the records still ending up in thrift stores. Used record stores tend to shun them. Not many appreciate the rare material often found only on a 78. As far as most are concerned, they just sound terrible.

"Most" don't even have equipment that can play 78s.

[Rarebird]

78s are among the records still ending up in thrift stores. Used record stores tend to shun them. Not many appreciate the rare material often found only on a 78. As far as most are concerned, they just sound terrible.

That friend of my dad was a collector, mostly traditional jazz. I have some 78s in the collection of my dad from the childrenschoir my mom was a member of.

[ronmac]

78s are among the records still ending up in thrift stores. Used record stores tend to shun them. Not many appreciate the rare material often found only on a 78. As far as most are concerned, they just sound terrible.

Yeah, but if you can find Beatles 78s (yes, they were made in India, for example), you have quite a valuable find.

"Most" don't even have equipment that can play 78s.

I do. It's an old Victrola from around 1920.

[Digital_Man]

What was the subject of the online course? Just wondering what kind of material he worked it into.

It was an English grammar course. He said what you do is Italicize the main title Free Hand but then put the song "On Reflection" in quotes.

[Batchman]

It was an English grammar course. He said what you do is Italicize the main title Free Hand but then put the song "On Reflection" in quotes.

He could have gone further and raised the distinction between Free Hand (the album name) and "Free Hand" (the title song).

[Digital_Man]

He could have gone further and raised the distinction between Free Hand (the album name) and "Free Hand" (the title song).

Well, he mentioned the album but not the song. I guess maybe he didn't like "Free Hand" the song.

[Progbear]

Yeah, he sings the whole song in falsetto. I kinda prefer the Chaka Khan version, as it has some interesting twists and turns, including Stevie Wonder's harmonica playing. I dunno how much harmonica playing Stevie did after the 60's, but he sure sounded great on this track (I believe he also played a solo on a Eurythmics song around the same time too).

He's also on Prefab Sprout's "Nightingales." And, on the ridiculously obscure side, "Feel It" by the short-lived new-wave act Feelabeelia. The music video to this song is one of the most stereotypically 80s things ever to exist.

[Dunamis]

In the recent Netflix series Eric with Benedict Cumberbatch there are several interesting songs being used, like Vitamin C by Can, Who Knows Where The Time Goes by Fairport Convention and of course 10cc's I'm Not In Love ;-)

[Gravedigger]

Two times recently, both involving KANSAS.
(You would be expecting "...Wayward Son" and "Dust...", right?)

I heard "Portrait (He Knew)" in a grocery store.
I heard "No One Together" at a gas station amidst the usual "USE YOUR REWARD POINTS blah, blah, blah".

[Digital_Man]

Speaking of gas stations maybe a month ago or so I got into a conversation with a guy there about music (a woman there wearing a Rush shirt was kind of the catalyst for this). Anyway, it turned out the guy mentioned on his own Tangerine Dream. He was also familiar with Camel but the conversation didn't last as long as it could have. He was probably a bit older than me. I would have been more impressed if the guy was younger. Lol.

[Rarebird]

I remember being interviewed for a podcast (which still isn't there) and the interviewer was a fan of King Crimson and Rush. Het had been at a Rush concert when he was in his teens and the audience smoked so much put, he went high from the smell alone. He even succeeded in getting an autograph from Robert Fripp.

[interbellum]

In the last episode of the second season of the BBC/Netfix-series The Tourist there's a scene which features a short piece of Hocus Pocus by Focus.
Great story b.t.w. Lots of humor, drama, Twin Peaks-like madness and violence.

[Digital_Man]

Well, imo, tv is an unlikely place to even hear someone mention the term "prog." Case in point: The Talking Heads (all members) were on Jimmy Fallon tonight. Jerry Harrison mentions the term "prog" as in "16 minute guitar solos." LOL He was trying to make a point about bands trying to go for a more stripped down sound in response to "excess." You could tell Jimmy Fallon probably didn't know what he meant by "prog" but understood the terms "punk and "new wave."

[progmatist]

^^ Stephen Colbert often references prog rock by name. He himself is a huge fan.

[Digital_Man]

^^ Stephen Colbert often references prog rock by name. He himself is a huge fan.

I've seen no evidence that Stephen is a "huge fan." He thinks Steely Dan is prog for one thing. I know he's a big Rush fan but that's probably about it (imo).

[Batchman]

OTOH Sherman Hemsley (of The Jeffersons) was a fan of avant prog, specifically Gong.

[GuitarGeek]

Jimmy Fallon probably didn't know what he meant by "prog" but understood the terms "punk and "new wave."

Well, Jimmy Fallon doesn't strike me as being particularly bright.

[ronmac]

OTOH Sherman Hemsley (of The Jeffersons) was a fan of avant prog, specifically Gong.

[Digital_Man]

Well, Jimmy Fallon doesn't strike me as being particularly bright.

Maybe not. And also not particularly savy when it comes to music beyond the most mainstream genres.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

I just heard 'Heartbeat' by King Crimson at Kroger in Jefferson, GA.

[ronmac]

Well, Jimmy Fallon doesn't strike me as being particularly bright.

I can't stand him. He's like a giggling six-year-old with his guests half the time. Maybe it's a generational thing, but I find him totally unfunny, like so many SNL alums from recent decades, especially Adam Sandler.

[Progatron]

I can't stand him. He's like a giggling six-year-old with his guests half the time. Maybe it's a generational thing, but I find him totally unfunny, like so many SNL alums from recent decades, especially Adam Sandler.

I can't either. And he takes the fake laughing to a new level, beyond what guys like Leno ever did (and they did). Slapping his desk, like every word out of the guests' mouths is just so unbelievably hilarious. He was always annoying on SNL too, endlessly breaking up with laughter and making the troupe seem unprofessional. I said it before, but he makes Harvey Korman look like David Niven.

[ronmac]

I can't either. And he takes the fake laughing to a new level, beyond what guys like Leno ever did (and they did). Slapping his desk, like every word out of the guests' mouths is just so unbelievably hilarious. He was always annoying on SNL too, endlessly breaking up with laughter and making the troupe seem unprofessional. I said it before, but he makes Harvey Korman look like David Niven.

LOL!

Okay, so it's not just me. Thank you.

[progmatist]

I can't stand him. He's like a giggling six-year-old with his guests half the time. Maybe it's a generational thing, but I find him totally unfunny, like so many SNL alums from recent decades, especially Adam Sandler.

When Fallon hosted Late Night, my then college age nephew thought it was a horrible show. I'm not sure who these young people are. Who NBC thinks they're reaching by giving Fallon the Tonight Show.

One reason NBC gave him the show was they wanted viral videos. But they soon learned viral videos do not generate any revenue. At least in terms of broadcast television.

[Batchman]

Bringing the thread back to the original observation:

Digital_Man: Jimmy Fallon probably didn't know what he meant by "prog" but understood the terms "punk and "new wave."

GuitarGeek: Well, Jimmy Fallon doesn't strike me as being particularly bright.

This raised a long-time question in my mind: Are prog fans more intelligent than non-prog-fans? Or do prog fans perceive themselves to be more intelligent than non-prog-fans?

That discussion probably deserves a separate thread (though a discussion of the merits of American late-night talk show hosts certainly does as well, not to mention a separate forum).

I offer the following reminiscence from some time in the early 1970s: an observation by Steve Simels writing in Stereo Review magazine in which he disdained fans of progressive rock and ELP in particular, calling them kids who had recently graduated from Grank Funk Railroad and were overcompensating by their devotion to "good" music.

That hurt at the time, but the fact is that traditional prog (ELP/Yes/Genesis) had been the target of almost everyone: rock fans who believed in the traditional 3-chord Saturday Night function of rock 'n' roll; classical and jazz fans who looked down their noses at rock listeners; and fans of avant-garde rock (Zappa/Beefheart/Canterbury/Henry Cow/etc.) who regarded their personal favorites as the "real" progressive music.

I was glad to come upon this forum as it is populated by fans of both traditional "prog" and avant-garde (as well as encompassing lots of artists on the borderline) and I haven't detected any snobbery or rejection of any of the various forms. In fact, many of us enjoy both traditional and avant-garde prog, as well as authentic classical and jazz.

But do we think we are smarter than the average music listener? Whether that means intellectually, musically or sociologically. Perhaps some of us did so in our youth. But we were so much older then...