Pink Beatles in A Purple Zeppelin (Arjen Anthony Lucassen, 2012)

Progressive rock is always seen by mainstream rockers as a deeply serious and even morn genre, but I think that proggers have more fun instead. Arjen Anthony Lucassen, the Dutch multi-instrumentalist behind Ayreon project, shares my opinion and this song proves it. "Pink Beatles in A Purple Zeppelin" is a musical divertissement taken from the album  "Lost in The New Real", one of the few CDs Arjen released as a soloist. First of all, this catchy melody is an excuse to pay the author's respect to his (and our) rock heroes, but there's more than this, as the lyrics deal with an interesting subject (and a real nightmare for many composers): the lack of new musical ideas. Poor Lucassen sings:

Every song's been sung before,
Every note's been played,
Every chord's been strung before,
And every melody's been made.

 

Even the album cover was pure fun!

So, what can a musician do by now? Well, prog rock found the only answer to this: if everything has been done, we can still mix up those patterns, melt down those styles. In Arjen's own words:

I just think of what I like
Any blend will do.
They reproduced what's in my mind
But it feels like something new.

That's exactly what proggers do: they merge different worlds and make something that really sounds new. And... they have fun, of course!

One of These Days (Pink Floyd, 1971)

This mostly instrumental track surely is one of the trade marks of Pink Floyd and features one of the most enthralling (double) bass lines ever. It was the opening song of the album "Meddle" and the only lyrics in it are the menacing One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces, spoken by Nick Mason and allegedly addressed to a BBC's DJ the band didn't appreciate so much. The music seems like a rising wave, full of tension and running over the listener by gusts.

 

The single was released in November 1971, b/w "Fearless".

The echoed double bass played by Waters and Gilmour is the most noticeable element of the song, but not the only one, as the whole band contibutes to its striking effect and especially Nick Mason with his usual creative drumming. The track also includes a series of effects and assorted oddities, like the opening wind, Mason's distorted voice or the Doctor Who's TV series theme quotation by Gilmour's guitar. For sure, "One of These Days" is a highly influential song, a real rock evergreen.

Summer Suite (Balloon Astronomy, 2011)

Is a prog ballad something that really exists? To answer such a difficult question, here you are "One Summer", the first movement of "Summer Suite", by the American duo Balloon Astronomy and coming from their self titled debut album. If ever there is a single prog ballad in the musical world, this is the one. Featuring a beautiful melody and a clever but unobtrusive arrangement, this song (or movement) is longer and more complex than a traditional pop ballad, but still preserves the freshness and the niceness of its genre. And the lyrics about loss and death narrating a girl's suicide following her mother's illness are simply moving and very, very well written.

 

This album was a pleasant surprise for my ears...

Take for example the acoustic guitar solo by guest musician Mike Keneally of Frank Zappa's fame or Nick D'Virgilio's drums (yes, he's everywhere!). I think US proggers have a special touch with gentle and catchy tracks just like this one and I enjoy those little pearls with gratitude. The suite goes on with two more typically prog instrumental pieces ("For Jackie" and "Summer Afternoon"), and they're very good too, with a classical taste and a splendid piano, then guitar / keyboards work. The whole suite has a nostalgy mood I adore and I hope the Balloon Astronomy  project will continue... we all need some fresh air, after all!

Ouverture XV (Pierrot Lunaire, 1974)

One of the best classically oriented prog tracks I've ever listened to. In the flushing Italian prog scene of the '70s, this band featured a strong classical background with Arturo Stalteri's piano and keys, Vincenzo Caporaletti's guitars (plus flute) and Gaio Chiocchio's assorted instruments and tools. It's useful to say that the group's name also has cultivated origins, coming from an Arnold Schönberg's composition.

Pierrot Lunaire released two offiacial albums between 1974 and 1976.

A compilation called "Tre" (2011), features some more unreleased songs.

This opening instrumental song, taken from the band's self titled fiirst album, is based on a beautiful main theme and as many variations, bridges and conterpoints as you could imagine in a baroque music piece. The amount of embellishments they put in a 3:19 minutes track is hardly believablel, from the starting scary effect down to the final piano elicitation. Actually, this is the kind of music providing me with extra power... highly recommended when starting a tough day!

Couleurs (Carpe Diem, 1976)

Carpe Diem are a French band from the '70s. I partucularly love for their unique blend of space moods and mellow melodies. This long suite, lasting some 21 minutes, comes from the group's second and last album "Cueille le Jour", featuring a title that's the French translation of the Latin name of the band ("Seize The Day", a common quotation of Horace's Odes). It's an enthralling trip starting from a very simple theme going into a lot of beautiful and unexpected variations. Other themes and improvisations come in around minute 9:00 and the wind instruments give a slight King Crimson's touch and a jazzy mood to those sections of "Couleurs". Each time the main theme returns it sounds like new and I admire the perfect balance between synphonic, fusion and electronic moments.

Don't worry: "Couleurs" isn't as dark as its album cover...

When the French lyrics come in- we're around minute 13:30 - the track adopts for a while a fully progressive atmosphere à la Ange, but soon the highly innovative and unpredictable choice of Carpe Diem takes over any usual architecture and drives the listener far away from the well known paths. The final section is so rich and surprising I actually can't describe it and it also displays all the instrumental skills of the band in a cheerful ring-around-the rosey closing section not so far from some Zappa's most humorous songs. In one word: enjoy!

Incubus (Marillion, 1984)

Crushed between the overflowing energy of "Script for A Jester's Tear" and the melodic blossoming of "Misplaced Childhood", "Fugazi" album is often underrated in Marillion's discography. But it includes gems as "Incubus" that are worth the greatest attention. First of all, this song has a brilliant melody and a creative rythmic section suitable for the most demading tastes, then comes Fish in one of his best performances ever. Sweet and bitter, quiet and loud, agressive and compliant, all the possible vocal tones are there.

Poor Jester is suffering in his bed... but his music's fine !

The track is build up following the outline of "Script of A Jester's Tear" title track, as it features a succession of melodies and moods in the same harsh / mellow / harsh / mellow /rising / bombastic order. Only, this song also includes longer instrumental solo parts, with a special mention for Steve Rothery's electric guitar heartbreaking dreamy section. Yes, I like this song more and more and I do think it's one of the greatest Marillion tracks during the so called "Fish era".

When She Dreams She Dreams in Color (Discipline, 2011)

This epic is one of my faves during the '10s. Despite their name, the American band Discipline creates here a song intro strongly influenced by VDGG and it seems to me Peter Hammill's wings fly over this first part of the track. The slow and sensitive melody is sung with the deepest feelings by Matthew Parmenter. But when the rythm rises up (not too much and just for a while, actually), the rest of the band builds up a wall of sound and a subsequent guitar/ keyboards work not too far from King Crimson's.

Intriguing and essential this cover... just like Discipline's music.

This music is as emotionally charged as a smoking gun can be, featuring a strong carnal tension and a symmetrical spiritual elevation. And when the violin comes in to enrich the 7 minutes instrumental finale, the magic fills the air. There's such a rare balance between moving and ecstatic moments and between epic and lyric tones that everybody realize the reasons of the huge success of the album "To Shatter All Accord".