Listened to the 'cast on my way to work this morning and the bit about people listening to prog because it gave them (to paraphrase mightily) something that others didn't have made me think about my own adolesent dalliance with the genre. I think the casters were partially right about about it, but it was also about the old chestnut of getting more out of music that you had to put more into. Maybe you had to go through the noodling to appreciate the beauty of the main theme - like much classical music or the jazz that I'm sure a lot of proggers would have been listening to had they been born 10 years earlier.

best 'cast in ages with the many voices of Mark Ellen. Lots of interesting n diverting stories rather than one long boring one about rich Yanks with more money than braincells (yes, I mean you, Mr Fitzpatrick)

and on that bombshell....

There was no significant contribution to Prog from the Americas but surely PFM, Italy's finest, possibly Focus from Holland and (who can forget) Finland's Tassavallan Presidentti all refute the anglocentric argument.

what was the cycling film?

You missed the Friars Club Aylesbury, surely one that sprang to mind with Prog.
And, Mr Ellen, if you frequented Bracknell Sports Centre did you see me perform Carmna Burana with the Wellington College Choral Society there in 1971? Thought not. Better to have been at McTell's show there 2 years later, and I even saw EC & the Attractions there in the late 70s/early 80s. Also Mark, per chance did you ever see House play at The Kings Head, Guildford in the late 70s? Happy days with my old mate Tobler.

This podcast was possibly the funniest I have yet heard. And I feel the need to declare it so. Especially the affectionate deriding of prog and Mark Ellen's speculations about McCartney's feelings regarding his various awards for services to bass playing and pop.

I agree about Mitch Mitchell - Hendrix made his best music with him for sure on those first three albums. He was a great drummer. I feel a clip is in order:

The missing Hot Rats track was Willie The Pimp, featuring Mr Van Vliet of course. And Van was at the Brits. I remember an awkward moment where he seemed puzzled by the microphone and how to work it.

.

I always think these podcasts can't get any better and then you come up with a belter like this one.

The rundown of prog venues around the country was truly brillant, especially given that it ended in Potters Bar! I was almost crying with laughter on the train and getting some severely odd looks from fellow passengers.

Incidentally, on the subject of extra/missing digits, I believe Liam Gallagher is a polydactyl, having an extra toe on his right foot.

The Pink Toothbrush is in Rayleigh, near Southend-on-Sea, and the Rock and Roll hall of fame is in Cleveland, Ohio. I went there once, but it was closed.

and I'm already screaming (silently of course) at Mark Ellen.

Pete Winfield article in The Word? Stupid boy...

Foreign Prog? Ange from France.

Malicorne.
Bloody weird, thats for sure.
("Take that bloody drony noise off": Mrs Path)
Marvellous!

I don't know if this new-age guru is as big in the UK as he is in the States but he takes elements from Eastern philosophies and religions and distills them into palatable panaceas for all that ails you spiritually. The Power of Now, A New Earth, Guardians of Being, Milton's Secret - all titles that sound like they could have been lifted from the catalogues of Yes or Gnidrolog. He commences The Power of Now with the caveat that if you don't buy his tosh, it is because you are not ready for it yet. Sounds exactly like the smugness that David was alluding to in the laddish Prog fan.

at young Dave's teenage attempt at Joe's Lights for Yours Is No Disgrace.

I had 3 similar mates who "performed" the entire Pictures At An Exhibition at a party once. Mimed the whole bloody lot. The Emerson of the three used a comfy chair as an organ, even pulling it down onto himself and stabbing the thing, a la the twerp Keith. You had to be there. He is now a teacher in his 50s.

There is never a blackmail corner around when you need one.

the horn of plenty seminal st albans pub plus the city hall of course....clash, u2, weller, cabaret voltaire, er level 42, milkshakes,

Excellent podcast this week. The hilarious prog recollections reminded me, with great embarrassment, that at age 18 I successfully battled my more mature and sensible colleagues for the inclusion of a section marked "Progressive Solo Artists" at my then workplace, Harlequin Records in Oxford Street.

Looking forward to it-is this the lightbulb story he told in in an earlier p'cast ?

Always amused me the way that people wanted to rule prog (which I loved) out of bounds-as time passed and I heard more by people like Keith Jarrett, John McLaughlin and the great classical composers I could see why to some people (e.g. my dad) Genesis, Yes et al seemed like second rate copies, but equally I was always struck by how little such criticism really dealt with the music. I found that the much derided hi-fi press often had more valuable stuff to say about the actual music itself (rather than the extramusical baggage of style, politics etc etc) than the NME etc. But then again, Ian Rankin wasn't writing for the NME ;-).

Glad also that Belleville Rendezvous was mentioned-great film.
Has one magnificent musical moment-when the ship and our heroes are storm-tossed in mid atlantic, soundtrack is the Great Mass in C by Mozart If I recall right (talented teenager, could be seen as the Peter Frampton of his day, tended to be criticised for too many notes ;-);-) ...).

Windsor Old Trout
Reading Caribbean Club
Hammersmith Clarendon
London Lyceum

The Venue, Victoria (London)
The Bredon Bar, B'ham
Ceol Castle, B'ham - yes, i know it's still there but a shadow on previous glories.
The Hibernian, B'ham. Alegedly still going uder a different name.
Is Dingwalls dancehall still going?

Yeah, it still hosts sessions - including, I think, a Gilles Peterson Talking Loud Sunday afternoon reunion yesterday - anyone know how it was? (apart from messy, obviously).

Marvellous! Pillars everywhere to obscure the view!
Loved it.
Whilst we're at it, Nashville Rooms, Hope and Anchor and the one the far end of Chelsea, name long gone.

Liverpool Stadium
Liverpool Empire
The Greyhound, Fulham

Enjoying the progcast so far (20 mins in) though through *slightly* gritted teeth as Mark E explained the essentially pre-adolescent nature of Prog which he has now apparently outgrown ... seemed to go along with science, maths etc-fortunately not everyone outgrows that ... :-)

Though I'd equally well admit that I haven't found much room for prog on an 8Gb iPod...one band whch has lasted though for me is early Yes. The jazzy/Beatle-y style of "Survival" and the woody bass of Starship Troopers spring to mind. The latter probably really is better on vinyl ...

And there is at least one counter example for DH of a prog track that "just starts"-album version of "Dancing with the moonlit knight" by Genesis [live version below-can't get it to paste in right place, sorry].

Though an argument for the line "can you tell me where my country lies, said the unifaun to his true love's eyes" is probably not an argument I'd care to frame.

I am looking forward to seeing Clarkson's sleevenotes on the boxed set (oh yes) ...

...drafting-in outside talent to write lyrics reminded me of Stacey Kent.

Kent has made a career out of performing standards from the great American songbook – the vocal jazz years – so lots of Cole Porter, George Gershwin etc. She does it very well and always has a very good band around her. In the past I often wondered why she never tackled any original material.

On her most recent album Breakfast on the Morning Tram there were four new songs – all co-writes between her husband and the author Kazuo Ishiguro, who is probably best known for his novel The Remains of the Day. Ishiguro, it seems, is one of those disproportionately talented individuals who can write creatively to order. He’s penned a set of songs very much in the style, and meeting the same high standards, as the rest of the Kent repertoire: The title track details a surreal fine dining experience on the commute into work. So Romantic’s ruminations on an ex-lover takes the conclusion of the film Casablanca as its starting point. The Ice Hotel and I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again are two variations on the same idea - the restorative effect that travel can have on a relationship. The latter songs opens with the brilliant triplet:

I want a waiter to give us a reprimand
in a language neither of us understand
while we argue about the customs of the land.

On the subject of defunct rock venues, the Southend Kursaal (a silver-domed Saint Paul's Cathedral for seaside-dwelling cockneys) has reinvented itself as a bowling alley/casino.

I encountered was Queen Mary's Grammar School in Walsall which incredibly, in (I think) 1973, hosted a show by Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, in the school hall. Arthur's show at that time included a hallucinogenic light show, with back-projected images, liquid wheels, and front-projection onto a semi-transparent screen occasionally lowered in front of the band. The entire band had their faces covered in gold paint; bizarre props were deployed (particularly memorable were a man wearing a set of traffic lights, and a giant hypodermic syringe in which Arthur was imprisoned for part of the set). At one point, Arthur, clad in a body-hugging red leotard, crawled off the stage and across the audience, clambering over the backs of the seats. The PTA looked bemused. My friends and I loved it, and couldn't believe our luck. Still can't.

One other thing struck me in the last Podcast. If I heard correctly Matt expressed the view that Prog hadn't been taken to America's bosom. Googling for Karn Evil 9 (yes, I am well down memory lane now thanks to y'all) I came across this extraordinary rendition (and I use the phrase advisedly) of ELP's masterpiece (?), by the Poteet Texas [*] High School Percussion Ensemble, Director, Mike Myers on May 20th, 2004 (!)

and, pop-pickers,

I see that Beany has already blogged Part 1 here, but I think it is powerful evidence that not only did Prog take hold, it hasn't really died, out there in Real America. And somewhere Fluff and Derek Jewell are smiling ...

[*] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poteet,_Texas
"Poteet is known for its "Poteet Strawberry Festival" and being the birthplace of country singer George Strait."

I know I'm a bit late catching up with this but surely Mark Ellen missed the opportunity for a tortuous link between boiling eggs on heat arising from the Earth's core, which I think is called magma, the prog group called Magma (championed by snooker player Interesting Steve Davis and no one else), and their being French not British therefore proving, as others have noted, that the genre is not unique to these islands.

less is more

they never knew when to leave stuff out or to stop.

surprised rick wakeman hasn't done a comeback with a concept album based on harry potter -a perfect match for prog

Would Stravinsky's Firebird be better if it was 3 minutes long?
Robbie Williams last single was 3 and a half minutes long and seemed to go on forever.
Its irrelevant.

Actually I think you both have a point. If we accept that a lot of live recordings of the era record an exuberance that had a lot to do with things being new, making links between different forms, and cheap cider ;-);-) then there still remains the question of editing, which no art form is immune to the need for.

Leonard Bernstein had what seem to me some very wise words on this, and about "the inexplicable ability to know what the next note has to be".

From http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2006/10/20/bernstein-on-beethoven/

" Many, many composers have been able to write heavenly tunes and respectable fugues. Some composers can orchestrate the C-major scale so that it sounds like a masterpiece, or fool with notes so that a harmonic novelty is achieved. But this is all mere dust - nothing compared to the magic ingredient sought by them all: the inexplicable ability to know what the next note has to be. Beethoven had this gift in a degree that leaves them all panting in the rear guard. When he really did it - as in the Funeral March of the Eroica - he produced an entity that always seems to me to have been previously written in Heaven, and then merely dictated to him. Not that the dictation was easily achieved. We know with what agonies he paid for listening to the divine orders. But the reward is great. There is a special space carved out in the cosmos into which this movement just fits, predetermined and perfect."

And Lenny could walk it like he talked it ... [see clip at end-I am using Chrome and can't get this to paste in right place]

My feeling is this ability is much more to do with what you have to say than how long you've got to say it in, but brevity is the soul of wit, and Pop can be a very witty form ...

But I was genuinely fascinated to hear the Poteet band, and then go away and here the old ELP track itself. In some ways they actually sound better because they have access to tonal colour that the synths of Emerson's day couldn't give him-that and they have this great Gamelan-orchestra-on-speed thing going ...

"An unaccountable mass lapse of taste"? It's sure snappy, but would he still hold that view, I wonder.

...worse than their own light show at the time.