Prog Temple

Sharing the hidden gems I find along the way while grinding away at the job This blog is mostly spirit of music exploration.

[kiwizoom]

Songs about being or interacting with Robots

Gary Numan “Metal” 1979

I could learn to be a man Like you.

Plug me in And turn me on

Oh everything is moving.

Electric Light Orchestra “Yours Truly, 2095″ 1981

I met someone who looks a lot like you She does the things you do, but she is an IBM

She’s only programmed to be very nice But she’s as cold as ice

She has an IQ of 1,001, She has a jump suit on, and she’s also a telephone.

Genesis “Frustration” from the rare Jackson Tapes, 1970

Woman! Body draped in wire, All you seem to do is swallow me. 

Get away! 

I am the mad, mad scientist.

Soon I’ll build the perfect female friend, 

To comfort me, to satisfy…

Programmed just to please. 

Roy Wood “Miss Clarke And The Computer” 196?

Surely I know you won’t dismantle me 

Now press my switch, I’ll play for you 

Please, Miss Clarke

I can’t seem to function my inner brain 

Screwdrivers so sharp 

Now I’m scared

Miss Clarke, Miss Clarke, Miss Clarke 

Don’t take my heart away

Rush “The Body Electric” 1984

One humanoid escapee One android on the run Seeking freedom beneath the lonely desert sun

Trying to change its program Trying to change the mode, crack the code Images conflicting into data overload

It replays each of the days A hundred years of routines Bows its head and prays To the mother of all machines

[progtemple]

One of my lists!

[progsquad]

reblog this with an inaccurate description of your favourite prog band

Van der Graaf Generator, known for their catchy melodies and accessible, bubble-gum pop inspired lyrics

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Colosseum II is a band formed by bluegrass drummer Jon Hiseman after the dissolution of his previous band, Cymbeline. The band features his 10year old son on keyboards, American banjo player Gary Moore, and the Irish Neil Murray on bass-bagpipes.

Famous for their slow tempos and electronic sequences, they controvertially combined heavy and earthy hip hop beats with folk elements.

Having released a metric ton of albums (such as Nobody Expects the…, Bright side of Life, and The Conflict Shuffle), the band, to this day, refuses to tour outside of the US.

Notable songs include, The Troglodyte Crawl, Are You?, The Freeze.

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Genesis, formed and lead by the creative genius that is Phil Collins, no one else in the band unfortunately was memorable or had successful solo careers, we might as well have called it Phil Collins the band, reached its peak creative potential at ABACAB, Phil Collins the band is best known for its resurgence in popularity through the hit Dreamworks film Tarzan, from whence the next 20 years was set to repeat on earbuds by the burgeoning youth and now known as the great Musical Awakening.  After the following tour they renamed the first book in the bible “Phil Collins” as in, “In the beginning, god created Phil Collins.. and then there was Phil Collins.  And it was good”.  There are, however, fringe groups who disagree.

[kiwizoom]

Back in NYC

Based on some lyrics from the Genesis song “Back in NYC”, the concept album and stage show The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is about a Puerto Rican gangster named Rael trying to find where he belongs. The lyrics are difficult to interpret a solid meaning from as it plays around in allegory with surreal sci-fi and mythological scenes.  This was one of the lines I liked, though I have no idea what Peter meant by some of the words so I took a guess.

The excerpt if you want to listen

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From my main blog Kiwizoom

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This guy’s cover of Genesis’s The ‘Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ performance is amazing, particularly this ‘Back in NYC’ track (24:16)

He looks so crazy, he’s doing the songs justice

1994 performance of a 1974 album, very faithful reenactment of the original show

He would have been a good stand-in for Peter, too bad he died shortly after this video

Some footage of a 1975 performance.  Who does it better, Peter or Kevin xD  Good job to both really

[progtemple]

Don’t shoot animals! Don’t hate animals!

This one has a somewhat dated opening but is a pretty good listen all the way through.  I think the highlight, or “finale”, is the second to last song Bird’s Destiny at 24:35 but it gains half of its impact from listening the disc from the start as it’s kind of a closer on the theme.

The lyrics/vocals are a bit naive but that’s how most prog albums go  - it’s kind of charming anyway.  I like that in this time, it wasn’t unusual to make a plug for a higher concept like environmentalism/conservation.  As with much prog, there’s a tiny bit of sci-fi mixed in there, insinuating in the beginning there was peace among animals until humanity destroyed nature and is doomed to be destroyed himself.

Also, holy crap, this album is 1981.  It sounds so much like a mid 70′s album.

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Not extremely prog but has some unusual playing style of that era

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Don’t be fooled by the folksy friendly beginning, this one turns into an intense listen real quick.  Some of the passages are grating and challenge the listener with a heavy forward-plodding drive.  At other times it takes a break for a friendly or mournful passage.  The male singer has a high-flying fluttery quality that you would find in more modern pieces than 1975, it’s truly a strange and pretty sound.

The band was based out of Gary Indiana and Chicago Illinois, though I’ve never heard it come up in prog circles ( could throw a rock and basically hit their house though.  You’d think I’d have known. )  This is one of those neat glossed over ones.  Prog albums of much quality are harder to find in the US as opposed to Europe.  So cherish those US prog albums lolol.  A song title such as “Three Tons Of Fresh Thyroid Glands” will not go unappreciated by me

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[kiwizoom]

New Blog!  Prog Temple

So, I’m starting a Prog Blog.  It’s one of the things I post that is very me but is a bit offtopic for my followers.  So let me make my case for my new blog :3

What is prog?

Basically any music that displays progression in the song.  While pop may be like A B A B C A B Prog is more like A B C D E F G H. Taken to an extreme though, Prog tends to be pretty experimental, spacey, and has been known to try to use a whole album as a concept, like retelling Lord of the Rings er something weird.  Other times it’s just playing on weird instruments and letting the music flow and change. 

IDK I never listened to it.  Will I like it?

If you watched JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the ending theme of Phantom Blood is Prog Rock ( Roundabout, by YES ).  So if you like that you like prog.

If you like listening to videogame music, you might like prog.  All that squarewave sawtooth stuff?  Prog was doing that sound in the 60s and 70s on synthesizers, so it’s much like the precursor to what videogames would do.

If you like listening to ambient or background music, you might like prog.  Perhaps for drawing or relaxing, or maybe you like experiencing albums.

If you like songs that tell a story.  A lot of prog songs and albums are based on books and short stories or concepts made up by the artist.  Authors like Ayn Rand, Poe, Tolkien.  And if you like Fantasy and Science Fiction.  Prog has a lot of fantasy, sci fi, dystopian themes.  Songs about space, the future, or just strange things.

The Blog?

It’s over here - > Prog Temple

I don’t plan on updating it more than twice a week.  I listen to a lot of music at work and I get excited when I occasionally find a new cool prog album I haven’t heard yet.

Now I can safely post about prog, haha.

Please follow if you are into that sort of thing!  However, no pressure if you aren’t.

[progtemple]

[progtemple]

New Blog! Prog Temple

Hello, I decided to start this blog because I keep posting about prog and I’m sure most my regular followers are not into it.

By making this blog I hope I can find a subset of people that enjoy seeing (and hearing) that kind of thing.  A lot of these are long songs, heheh.

As far as mission statements,

I plan on posting songs and albums from the prog genre (or its occasional cousins).  I’d like to keep it content oriented so it will be mostly music, but if I find anything textual of interest I’ll drop it in.  I notice a lot of prog blogs I followed focused on the band members so I would like to focus this pretty much on the music itself.  I don’t intend to post more than twice a week so it won’t be heavy.

Most people like me have heard YES and others a lot so I invite you to journey with me into some deep and obscure tracks.  I tend to focus on 60′s-80′s but I’ll post anything in a heartbeat if it’s sufficiently prog.  I tend to ignore new-age swedish prog but if anything fits I’ll throw it in.