The Free Radical

When we’re young– and all we want is to fit in– very simplistically, we think that we can carve out a unique identity for ourselves merely by proclaiming our personal preferences, especially those pertaining to music…

(Words and Miracles by Izz from their 2012 album Crush of Night)

But music is a direct representation of the sacred and complex geometry of time-space. The mainstream would have us believe this is a two-dimensional universe… okay, maybe three. (That’s why Justin Bieber’s more popular than a turd at a convention of flies.) Pop music is supposed to get stuck in your head like a post-hypnotic suggestion, whereas Prog (progressive rock) doesn’t even work as background music; if you’re not actually paying attention to it, it’s kind of annoying. And often the songs really suck until about the sixth listen… when suddenly, inexplicably, they’re the awesomest thing ever! It’s like new cognitive patterns and synapses have to be created first– yes, exactly like that!

Our focus here today is on the progress of Prog. This first song is a direct nod to seventies greats Gentle Giant. The kids from Izz even borrowed the guitar player from Gentle Giant, Gary Green, to help with the composition and playing.

(excerpt of Author of Confusion by Neal Morse from his 2004 album One)

This one too gives the nod to Gentle Giant in the multi-layered vocals which are present only in the last minute or so of this excerpt. (The reason for excerpts in this post is that there’s a 7MB limit to media uploads on my blog which translates roughly to 7 minutes of high quality MP3. Many, if not most, prog songs are longer than 7 minutes, so I’m required to do some editing.)

(Day of Innocence by Izz from their 2009 album The Darkened Room)

It’s difficult to choose just one song that’s representative of each of these diverse artists… so sometimes I select a second one. Izz is rather deserving in my opinion.

(The Lonely Views of Condors by Sieges Even from their 2005 release The Art of Navigating by the Stars)

Sieges Even has long been my favourite German prog band. Musically they’ve always been impeccable, but over the years they had great difficulty finding a vocalist who was a suitable match… until they finally hooked up with the Dutchman Arno. (This is the only song on this page I had to pull from YouTube because I gave away my copy of the CD– to Shane, the singer in my band. That’s the reason the quality is a tad subpar. All of these songs are recorded in real time through my studio sound board. I learned long ago that the Mackie– specifically its sub-mixing channels– make all music sound a bit better– warmer. This one though, the damage had already been done; you can hear it especially in the poor sound quality of the cymbals.)

(June by Spock’s Beard from their 2004 album The Kindness of Strangers)

This one’s not particularly proggy… but even when prog bands are just playing straight ahead rock, it tends to be pretty kickass anyway! The singer is Neal Morse. This is his old band before he went solo… due to a promise he made to God.

(Here I Am by Echolyn from Suffocating the Bloom)

These fellows are amazing. All but one of their albums have been recorded at their home studios. Their magnum opus is a song/album called Mei, but that song’s 45 minutes long, and to choose a seven minute excerpt would just be plain wrong.

(The Canterbury Sequence by The Tangent from their 2003 album The Music That Died Alone)

These British blokes are giving a clear nod to the whole Canterbury music scene of the seventies, especially Hatfield and the North whose albums are classics! I may in the future do an entire blog post on the Canterbury scene and all of its tangled offshoots; what an era!

(Ballad of the Sacred Cows by Tiles from their 1999 album Presents of Mind)

By virtue of rumour, these guys were supposedly the inheritors of the Rush legacy– albeit an American counterpart. They even hooked up with former Rush producer Terry Brown. I chose an instrumental for comparison to the song which follows… also instrumental.

(Leave That Thing Alone by Rush from their 1993 release Counterparts)

Just when I’d pretty much given up on Rush– I grew up a 2112 kid– they came out with this magnificent effort in the early nineties when rock music went through a much-needed renaissance. They are the masters!

(At Home Watching Movies by Beardfish from their 2009 album Destined Solitaire)

No, this one’s not really representative of Beardfish. They are perhaps Sweden’s best answer to progressive music. I’ve featured them elsewhere, so here’s just a snippet this go-round.

(Normal by Porcupine Tree from their 2007 album Nil Recurring)

Steve Wilson, the genius behind Porcupine Tree, claims his greatest influence growing up was Pink Floyd. You’ll here it at times, but Steve’s an original… and prolific. You can’t really go wrong with Steve Wilson and/or Porcupine Tree.

(Clair Obscur by Wobbler from their debut album from 2005)

If Beardfish represents Sweden, then Wobbler is an apt representative of Norway. There’s some definite similarities there; maybe it’s a Scandinavian thing. After about ten listens, this song actually begins to make good sense. If there’s a particular part of the song you don’t care for, don’t worry, just give it a few bars and it’ll change completely. It seems to me that the Scandinavian countries were richly influenced by Frank Zappa.

(Rhythmatist by Dweezil Zappa from his 2006 album Go With What You Know)

Frank’s son carries the Zappa name quite well. The beginning of this one reminds me of Frank’s own G-Spot Tornado… and nice touch to do this one with a full orchestra!

(Freeway Vigilante by Banned from Utopia from the Frank Zappa tribute album So Yuh Don’t Like Modern Art)

This one’s actually an original, not composed by Frank, but it captures the spirit of FZ perfectly! The band members on this album are Zappa alumni.

(Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With by King Crimson from their 2003 album The Power to Believe)

Crim have been around since 1969… and they’re still going! This song is a scathing parody of pop music in general.

(Hyperventilate by Frost from their album Milliontown)

I just like the way clean piano sound mixes with heavy prog!

(Karma by The Niche from their only album Building Up)

And speaking of piano… this guy can play! This young New York band are perhaps more quirky than proggy, but all of the songs on their only album are worthwhile. This one’s a descent representation.

(Whalehead by Moth Vellum from their 2008 self-titled album)

It seems this artsy band only managed to stick around for one album as well. Perhaps I just need to be patient… I’ve been working on my own band’s second album for ten years already! I’m like that… oops!

And this brings us to the finale. This last song is exactly 21 minutes long and is really a fine masterpiece, so I’ve carved it up into three sections of 7 minutes each. Sorry about the breaks, but what can you do? This is Thieves’ Kitchen’s best effort in my opinion– the whole album.

(The Long Fianchetto by Thieves’ Kitchen from their 2008 album The Water Road)

So why have I done this? Because no one else is…

And in case you haven’t noticed, “I’m playing the long game– the madness of me.”