"Classic" Progressive Rock Bands

When reflecting on the “classic” progressive rock bands from the U.K. I found myself having to sift through a myriad of differing styles that I’ve found seems to be typical of music from this genre and period. The use of different techniques and styles is what sets these bands apart from one another and allowed them to move in the directions that they did.

To begin with, King Crimson seems to use everything from distortion to horns and woodwinds to strings to keyboards and mellotron. The band plays at an extremely varied pace within tracks and has a tendency to improvise at various points in their tracks, something that Edward Macan would attribute to the influences of jazz within their music. In some of their songs I found the music to be a little too muddled with improvisation and therefore messy such as in “21^st Century Schizoid Man (Including Mirrors)”. However, other tracks such as “In the Court of the Crimson King” and “Moonchild (Including The Dream and The Illusion)” I found the tracks to be quite beautiful. The bands use of flutes and drums in many of their songs I found contributed greatly to the overall production of several of their tracks.

Yes too, utilizes many of these techniques. But what I found particularly interesting was the groups’ ability to incorporate more classical themes into their music. This can be heard in “South Side of the Sky” where piano figures heavily into the middle part of the song, fit between two more rock-like pieces. Other works draw on jazz and rock influences. Tracks such as “Fish” however, utilize alternative sounds and influences but utilize rock and jazz influences in surreal songs. I found that with songs by Yes the group was able to transition fairly fluidly from one of these styles to another within their songs fairly easily. The transition from harpsichord sounds to rock guitar in “Siberian Khatru” was rather simple and wasn’t particularly troublesome for the listener. Such changes within the music I found enjoyable and felt made the musical skill of the group evident.

With ELP, I felt the group was able to utilize many of the same instruments and styles in songs by King Crimson and Yes, especially in tracks like “Jerusalem,” which is not unlike “In the Court of the Crimson King”, and “Karn Evil 9: 1^st Impression Part 2” which reminded me of “Siberian Khatru,” especially with the use of organ sounds in both songs. Personally, while I greatly enjoyed “Karn Evil 9,” I found most of ELP’s tracks, while including studio experimentation, to be rather boring and lacking in terms of being something new.

Genesis, like Yes and King Crimson tends to utilize time changes heavily with their songs. Organs and keyboards also play key roles in their sound, along with a more rock guitar and some woodwind instruments. Classical and jazz influences are evident from the instruments they use as well as the style of playing especially in “Firth of Fifth.” While I found some parts of their songs enjoyable others, sounded messy and, for lack of a better term, sour. That, while undoubtedly intended, I felt took away from some excellent music.

Overall I found the music of “classic” progressive rock bands to be enjoyable. I greatly appreciated the changes in pace within tracks as well as the instruments played on most of them. The one problem I had with these bands was that at times their songs could sound out of sync and not pleasant to the ear. However, when they played something well, their musical skill and talent always shone through.