The Birth of Prog : 1967

[The Owl]

When I think early prog albums these 3 come to mind, and when I think the year Prog started I think 1967...........

 

 

Each album can be argued for to which had the most influence

 

Days of Future Passed- The Moody Blue's second effort was one of the first concept albums, and other than 2 tracks, had no songs shorter than 5 minutes.......something VERY uncommon for 1967.... the track "Nights in White Satin" can be argued is one of the very first "Prog Songs" and one of the first songs to feature that level of orchestration and be that popular (though not till 2 years after the album was released)

 

Procol Harum- If the origin of Prog can be narrowed down to one single song it would most likely be "A Whiter Shade of Pale" which came out several months before it was on the U.S release of this album.... The album is among the first Prog albums, but I think it's influence lies in that one track, which is not on the U.K version sadly, but still worthy of notice

 

Sgt Pepper - What the Beatles had been doing with Rubber Soul and Revolver came to head on this album, many recognize this as the first true "Progressive Rock" album, before the term Prog came to a head.... It along with a select few were one of the first concept albums, an album that is not only influential to progressive rock, but to all rock in general.

 

Freak Out- Technically this album came out in 66, but Im including it here because of it's influence. A Double LP when it was epically rare to do so, often cited as one of the first, if not the first "concept" album, and Zappa's influence on avant-garde sound that would later shape his career makes this album worthy of being recognized as one of the granddaddies of prog

 

Piper at the Gates of Dawn - While not truly a Progressive album in the truest sense, Prog in the 70's had a major influence lying in the psychedelic genera of the 60's, and among those chief actors were Pink Floyd fronted by Syd Barret, his influence helped shaped what would become prog...and what Pink Floyd would go on to do.

 

 

 

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This one's hard for me.... it's a tossup between Procol Harum, and Sgt. Pepper...

 

I can't think of Prog ever existing without the influence of either of these albums, but I'm probably going with Procol Harum..."A whiter Shade of Pale" is the birthsong of Prog... Have to vote that

[Soni]

Freak Out!

Just because it came out in 1966

[H. P. L.]

I would go with Procol Harum, because of the strong classical influence that would become a trademark of Prog. In the following album PH would write a suite that encompasses creation, birth, death and end of the universe, thus establishing another Prog cornerstone: its total lack of subtlety.

 

The Beatles... they were very in tune with the times, and if you say that Sgt Pepper is prog, so should be Pet Sounds then... It's more a kind of pop culture album, a perfect reflection of the vibe and the cultural landscape of the times... As well as Uncle Frank... which I never could get into, I must say... I played that album to death but it does nothing for me.

[Silas Lang]

The one that had the most influence and impact is Sgt. Pepper. It showed others that you could be as musically eclectic as you wanted and still find an audience and lyrically songs could be about any topic you wished. It inspired other musicians that anything was possible within the rock context and to really push the boundaries.

[RUSHHEAD666]

Excellent poll Owl. Almost went with the Moody Blues, but had to go with The Beatles.

[rushgoober]

It's very easy to just throw out Sgt. Peppers since it was the most influential rock album ever, but that'd probably be wrong.

 

When I think of progressive rock, I think primarily of song structures, and then I think of musical influences.

 

What Freak Out! has going for it is that, since it was 1966, it's one of the very first concept albums, even if it's somewhat of a loose concept at times. The first album is mostly parodies of the 50's and early 60's style of music. The 2nd album contains 3 longer songs, but none of them are particularly progressive, except maybe vaguely The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet which is the epic. It's really more weird than anything else, and was I'm sure very influential on psychedelia, but not really on prog other than showing you can really extend a song to infinite length.

 

With Procol Harum, their real influence on prog was especially the 17 minute track "In Held 'Twas in I," but that wasn't until their 2nd album in 1968.

 

Sgt. Peppers had an early use of connecting songs together, but outside of maybe some prog leanings on A Day in the Life, I don't really get the prog influence specifically.

 

That leaves us with Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues.

 

Much of Piper contains the whimsical English songs of Syd Barrett that were obviously very influential on psychedelia. The songs that could have any prog influence are Bike, more so Astronomy Domine, and even more so Interstellar Overdrive - it's not just the length of songs, but with Interstellar Overdrive, there was a certain structure that can be seen later in prog, even if full-blown prog rock did it fairly differently.

 

To me the easy winner here is Days of Future Passed. The Moody Blues were HUGELY influential on progressive rock. One major element of prog rock is incorporating elements of classical and jazz into complex music that is only touched upon in psychedelia. What the Moodies did here was use a full symphony orchestra to glue the album together with the rock parts to create a huge 40 minute concept album of the average man on the average day. Really, there's so much stuff in there that would become elements of prog rock it's not funny. By their next album in 1968, they replaced the orchestra with a mellotron and then it was moving even more into a progressive rock sound. Even still it's not the full-blown prog of In the Court of the Crimson King, but a lot of elements are there, and if you're talking influential on prog before prog really hit you can't get more obvious than The Moody Blues.

[RUSHHEAD666]

QUOTE (rushgoober @ Jun 18 2010, 10:25 AM)

It's very easy to just throw out Sgt. Peppers since it was the most influential rock album ever, but that'd probably be wrong. When I think of progressive rock, I think primarily of song structures, and then I think of musical influences. What Freak Out! has going for it is that, since it was 1966, it's one of the very first concept albums, even if it's somewhat of a loose concept at times. The first album is mostly parodies of the 50's and early 60's style of music. The 2nd album contains 3 longer songs, but none of them are particularly progressive, except maybe vaguely The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet which is the epic. It's really more weird than anything else, and was I'm sure very influential on psychedelia, but not really on prog other than showing you can really extend a song to infinite length. With Procol Harum, their real influence on prog was especially the 17 minute track "In Held 'Twas in I," but that wasn't until their 2nd album in 1968. Sgt. Peppers had an early use of connecting songs together, but outside of maybe some prog leanings on A Day in the Life, I don't really get the prog influence specifically. That leaves us with Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues. Much of Piper contains the whimsical English songs of Syd Barrett that were obviously very influential on psychedelia. The songs that could have any prog influence are Bike, more so Astronomy Domine, and even more so Interstellar Overdrive - it's not just the length of songs, but with Interstellar Overdrive, there was a certain structure that can be seen later in prog, even if full-blown prog rock did it fairly differently. To me the easy winner here is Days of Future Passed. The Moody Blues were HUGELY influential on progressive rock. One major element of prog rock is incorporating elements of classical and jazz into complex music that is only touched upon in psychedelia. What the Moodies did here was use a full symphony orchestra to glue the album together with the rock parts to create a huge 40 minute concept album of the average man on the average day. Really, there's so much stuff in there that would become elements of prog rock it's not funny. By their next album in 1968, they replaced the orchestra with a mellotron and then it was moving even more into a progressive rock sound. Even still it's not the full-blown prog of In the Court of the Crimson King, but a lot of elements are there, and if you're talking influential on prog before prog really hit you can't get more obvious than The Moody Blues.

Hahaha! I knew you would weigh in on this one.

 

I should have went with my "gut feeling" and picked the Moody Blues.

I love that record.

[Silas Lang]

The Moodies i'm sure were influenced by the example of Sgt. Pepper which was out several months before and also included orchestration.

[rushgoober]

QUOTE (Silas Lang @ Jun 18 2010, 10:31 AM)

The Moodies i'm sure were influenced by the example of Sgt. Pepper which was out several months before and also included orchestration.

Is the question which was the earliest or what was the most influential on prog? If you really want to go crazy, you can cite Freak Out! and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds since they were both big influences on Sgt. Peppers. Yes, Sgt. Peppers was so influential that it influenced everything that came after, but I think in terms of prog elements, the Moodies took it much farther and much closer to what would later become progressive rock.

[Silas Lang]

I honestly don't hear that much of a difference between the two; Days consists of mainly pop song structures (don't hear any jazz in there). Pepper is a little more diverse in terms of instrumentation and experiments.

[rushgoober]

More of my (and other people's) thoughts on the subject:

 

http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?showtopic=51209&st=0

[metaldad]

Sgt. Pepper

[bigalfan]

Three years later, in 1970, the greatest prog-rock influence ever, imo, released their first album, Emerson Lake & Palmer. I am constantly finding this band overlooked when this subject is discussed. It boggles my mind as to why.

 

(OP - my post IS NOT intended toward you - '67 is not '70 - just a thought about this subject overall.)

[Choose/the/light]

QUOTE (bigalfan @ Jun 18 2010, 11:12 AM)

Three years later, in 1970, the greatest prog-rock influence ever, imo, released their first album, Emerson Lake & Palmer. I am constantly finding this band overlooked when this subject is discussed. It boggles my mind as to why. (OP - my post IS NOT intended toward you - '67 is not '70 - just a thought about this subject overall.)

it is true, ELP established the classic "side long epic" with Tarkus

 

(i'm not counting Pink Floyd's side longers that came before because they were more just Psychedelic )

[GeddyRulz]

Of those choices, I had to go with "Days of Future Passed" by the Moody Blues.

[Gompers]

Even though it was 1969, In The Court of the Crimson King probably had the biggest Prog impact of any album. This was discussed sometime ago over at ProgArchives. This does not diminish the importance of the other albums however. The Beatles probably were the ones who made the idea of Prog popular though.

[The Owl]

Prog Did not become mainstream (or very popular) until about 1970...... that was about when "everyone was doing it" perse... Up until then any "prog" album had some influence on what the genera would become at it's peak.... Alot of the mentioned already could do that... Albums made after these mentioned in the poll are shining examples...

 

But for the purposes of this poll I wanted to examine what is basically the "birth year" of the genera (1967, Including 66's Freak Out!) and the albums that really came out that year, that are notable for defining that genera, or what would become progressive Rock...

 

I agree with alot of what you said Goobs....... I still stand beside my choice of the first PH album, and agree that the second album is more of a true "prog'' album in that sense......but I more or less voted for "A Whiter Shade of Pale" to me what is the granddaddy of prog rock songs........IMO........ and yes "Nights in White Satin" pre-dates "A Whiter Shade of Pale" I know, but NIWS did not get in recognition until at least 2 years later........ "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was the first song to really popularize the style of what would become prog rock..........that's why I voted that choice.

[treeduck]

1967, the birth of prog and the birth of...treeduck...

 

 

[RUSHHEAD666]

QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 10:58 PM)

1967, the birth of prog and the birth of...treeduck...

Damn buddy! We are so close in age.

 

1968 baby!

 

 

It's all about "The Incident."

 

"Are You Experienced?"

[treeduck]

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 12:59 AM)

QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 10:58 PM) 1967, the birth of prog and the birth of...treeduck... Damn buddy! We are so close in age.   1968 baby!     It's all about "The Incident."   "Are You Experienced?" Aye...   I voted for sgt Peppers btw...

[RUSHHEAD666]

QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 11:05 PM)

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 12:59 AM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 10:58 PM) 1967, the birth of prog and the birth of...treeduck... Damn buddy! We are so close in age.   1968 baby!     It's all about "The Incident."   "Are You Experienced?" Aye...   I voted for sgt Peppers btw...   Ditto amigo, but I almost pulled the trigger on the Moody Blues.   Great stuff.   Signed,   Knights In White Satan

[treeduck]

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 01:10 AM)

QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 11:05 PM) QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 12:59 AM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 10:58 PM) 1967, the birth of prog and the birth of...treeduck... Damn buddy! We are so close in age.   1968 baby!     It's all about "The Incident."   "Are You Experienced?" Aye...   I voted for sgt Peppers btw...   Ditto amigo, but I almost pulled the trigger on the Moody Blues.   Great stuff.   Signed,   Knights In White Satan I don't really think of the Moody Blues as prog, I know rushgoober likes their early stuff, so maybe that should be a clue for me...

[RUSHHEAD666]

QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 11:14 PM)

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 01:10 AM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 11:05 PM) QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 12:59 AM) QUOTE (treeduck @ Jun 18 2010, 10:58 PM) 1967, the birth of prog and the birth of...treeduck... Damn buddy! We are so close in age.   1968 baby!     It's all about "The Incident."   "Are You Experienced?" Aye...   I voted for sgt Peppers btw...   Ditto amigo, but I almost pulled the trigger on the Moody Blues.   Great stuff.   Signed,   Knights In White Satan I don't really think of the Moody Blues as prog, I know rushgoober likes their early stuff, so maybe that should be a clue for me...     The Moody Booze!     Interesting. How would one label the Moody Blues then?   Symphonic Pop Rock?   Blue Label Society? LOL!   Are The Beatles really the Progfathers?   I'm thinking King Crimson should wear the Crown to be honest.   If you don't agree with me, then please sue me and take me to The Court Of The Crimson King......

[Gompers]

QUOTE (RUSHHEAD666 @ Jun 19 2010, 04:55 AM)

Interesting.  How would one label the Moody Blues then? Symphonic Pop Rock? Blue Label Society?  LOL! Are The Beatles really the Progfathers? I'm thinking King Crimson should wear the Crown to be honest. If you don't agree with me, then please sue me and take me to The Court Of The Crimson King......

My go-to website for Prog does not call the Moody Blues Prog, but Cross-over Prog. Here is what they wrote about the band.

QUOTE

Imitation. Innovation. Sensation. That pretty much sums up the first phase of THE MOODY BLUES. Their 1965 debut, "The Magnificent Moodies," was your standard British Invasion record; R&B covers and originals from Mike Pinder and Denny Laine that included an earlier #1 hit single, Go Now. In 1967, Justin Hayward and John Lodge replaced Laine and Rod Clarke, and what followed was the stunningly original "Days of Future Passed." Featuring orchestral arrangements and introducing to many ears the transcendent tones of the mellotron, that work almost single-handedly set the stage for the progressive rock movement. Subsequent albums confirmed the band's status as England's newest sensation: "On The Threshold of a Dream," "A Question of Balance," "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" and "Seventh Sojourn" all hit #1. Hibernation of a sort followed in the mid '70s, as each member of the band released solo albums (Hayward and Lodge had the most success with their 1975 effort, "BLUE JAYS.")! The band regrouped in the '80s and picked up where they left off (commercially anyway) with "Long Distance Voyager." Though the '90s found the Moodies less of a commercial force than a cult band, the group still tours and releases albums on occasion (including 1999's "Strange Times"). Their mix of sentimentalism and existentialism still resonates with listeners today, a point perhaps best made when the band was invited to play themselves on that most trendy of television shows, The Simpsons.

[Some Half-Forgotten Stranger]

I'm so prog it and I were born on the same day!!!!

 

(I voted Sgt. Peppers and I'm not prog).